Some 80 ethnic Koreans who were forcibly relocated to Russia's Sakhalin Island during the Japanese colonial rule will soon get a chance to see their homeland for the first time in decades.

The Red Cross is organizing an eight-day trip to South Korea for the group of expatriates. They will visit their home towns and tour Seoul and east coast areas as well.

More than 15 thousand ethnic Koreans in Sakhalin have visited their mother country since the Red Cross initiated the home-visit program in 1989.