Korsakov (town)

Korsakov (Russian: Корсаков; 町, ) is a town and the administrative center of Korsakovsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located south from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, at the southern end of Sakhalin Island, on the coast of the Salmon Cove in the Aniva Bay. The town has a population of 33,526 as of the 2010 census.

History

thumb|left|Late 19th-century view of the settlement

Little is known of the early history of Korsakov. The site was once home to an Ainu fishing village called Kushunkotan (in Russian sources, Tamari-Aniva), which was frequented by traders of the Matsumae clan from as early as 1790. On 22 September 1853, a Russian expedition, commanded by Gennady Nevelskoy, raised the Russian flag at the settlement and renamed it "Fort Muravyovsky", after Governor-General of Eastern Siberia Nikolay Muravyov. Nevelskoy left detailed recollections of the landing. He encountered a predominantly Ainu population (at least 600 people; another source mentions only 300 Ainu inhabitants The Russians abandoned the settlement on May 30, 1854, allegedly because their presence there, at the time of the Crimean War, raised the specter of Anglo-French attack, but returned in August 1869, now renaming the town "Fort Korsakovsky", in honor of then-Governor General of Eastern Siberia Mikhail Korsakov. As a municipal division, the town of Korsakov and seventeen rural localities of Korsakovsky District are incorporated as Korsakovsky Urban Okrug.

Economy

According to a 1 November 1945 Soviet report, the town had:

two refrigerators for fish processing
a paper factory
a factory to extract salt from sea water (production capacity 20 thousand tons per year)
a sulphur-alcohol plant
7 sake production facilities
2 timber plants

Up until the 1990s, Korsakov was a major base for the Russian Far Eastern fishing fleet. It was the home of the Base for Ocean Shipping, Baza Okeanicheskogo Rybolovstva (BOR), which went bankrupt during the post-Soviet recession. The thousands of fishermen employed by the BOR continued their work for private fishing companies, which usually operated small fishing boats not far off the coast, often without licences. The catch (primarily crab) was sold in Japan for hard currency, mainly in Wakkanai. Fishermen purchased Japanese electronics and used cars. This semi-illicit, semi-barter economy had a certain positive economic effect on Korsakov, though it contributed to organised crime.

Among other large economic units in Korsakov was a factory, which produced cardboard boxes; Fabrika Gofrirovannoy Tary. The factory operated on run-down equipment, possibly left over from the Japanese times, and was visible to anyone in Korsakov, as it featured a tall chimney. Gennady Zlivko, formerly a mayor of the town, was once a director of this factory. It has long since gone bankrupt, and its tall chimney, no longer emitting black smoke, is the only thing that reminds one of the earlier years of Korsakov's economy.

Korsakov is also the closest town to the huge LNG plant, constructed within the framework of the Sakhalin-2 project.

Demographics

Curiously, at the early stage of settlement (late 1890s), men in Korsakovsky outnumbered women almost by a factor of ten. In 1897, for example, 1,510 males and 192 females lived in the town. This imbalance was due to the majority of Korsakov's inhabitants being prisoners and prison-keepers; in both males predominated. The ethnic make-up, by mother tongue, was 63.2% Russian, 10.5% Ukrainian, 7.3% Tatar, 6.3% Polish, 2.2% Japanese, 2.0% Belarusian, 1.3% German, 0.9% Lithuanian, 0.8% Circassian. The district of Korsakovsky (in 1897 covering 6,6762 square verst) had a population of 4,659 males and 2,194 females.

The town's population was at its highest (just over 45,000) in the late 1980s, whereupon it experienced significant decline as inhabitants fled economic downturn by moving to neighboring Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk or to continental Russia. Korsakov's population remains in decline, although no longer as sharp as in the 1990s.

The demographic make-up is primarily ethnic Russian with a large ethnic Korean minority.

Sport

Korsakov is the 2016 bandy champions of Sakhalin.

Sights

Amenities include a fairly run-down and expensive hotel ("Alfa") next to the former park. The beach is easily accessible by car (Okhotsk, about 1 hour and Prigorodnoye, about 30 minutes). The formerly well-kept beach at Vtoraya Pad has now deteriorated into a messy junkyard.

Winter sights include skating at the city stadium and excellent cross-country skiing past the former sea weed plant (Na Agarike). No facilities exist for downhill skiing.

The town features a museum with an exhibit describing the local frontier history, and the Japanese possession of the city (1905–1945). Local market on the Sovetskaya Street offers great strawberries in the summer, and nicely prepared Korean delicacies (kimchi and the local hit, the paporotnik, all year around).

upright|thumb|Map of Korsakov

Foreign tourists from certain countries or transiting via cruise ship or air are now able to visit the town without a visa for 72 hours.

Politics

The town has its executive (the mayor's office or "municipal administration"), and its legislature (Duma). In practice, the Duma exercises fairly limited influence over the executive.

List of mayors:

Lada Mudrova (since 2008)
Gennady Zlivko (2004–2008): removed by court decision
Alexander Svoyakov (acting, 2004): lost election to Gennady Zlivko
Valery Osadchy (1993–2004): resigned
Yury Savenko (1991–1993): resigned

Transportation

Korsakov is located about from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport. Regular bus and minibus services connect Korsakov with the capital city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, though not with the airport. A passenger ferry service between Korsakov and Wakkanai, Hokkaidō, Japan, across the Aniva Gulf, was re-established in 2016 and is in operation between June and September of each year. The passenger ferry service is operated by the Commonwealth of Dominica flagged vessel Penguin 33, which is High-speed craft owned by Penguin International Limited, a Singaporean-owned publicly listed company.

The Japan National Rail passenger ferry service previously operated a service from Wakkanai, called "Chihaku-Renrakusen (Chihaku Ferry Service)" from 1923 to 1945, which was linked to Japan's national rail network and to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (then called Toyohara). The old narrow-gauge Japanese railroad still runs along the scenic coastline, with sporadic Sakhalin Railway rail service.

There are several bus lines servicing the urban area and a number of villages in the proximity.

The city has a large seaport.

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Korsakov is twinned with:

Monbetsu, Japan
Wakkanai, Japan

Notable people

Alexandr Anatolyevich Romankov (born 7 November 1953, Korsakov, Sakhalin) He trained at Dynamo in Minsk and won a gold medal, two silver medals and two bronze medals at the three Olympic Games that he competed in between 1976 and 1988.
Georgi Kulikov (born 11 June 1947, Korsakov, Sakhalin) is former butterfly and freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics and in the 1972 Summer Olympics. He won two medals representing the Soviet Union at two Olympic Games.