One day in May 2004, I was travelling by car from Ussuriisk to an archive in Vladivostok where I was researching the history of Koreans in the RFE. I noticed that there were many more police cars on the roadside than usual, and there were even helicopters patrolling the road from the air. Later that evening, I found out from the television news that President Putin was visiting Vladivostok to see the annual training exercises for the Far Eastern navy fleet. In the local newspapers, one popular topic of discussion was whether or not Putin would be dining on local salmon during his visit. To widespread disappointment, Putin had salmon flown in from Moscow (called semga) and did not touch losos’, the local Primorian salmon. The residents of Primorskii Krai were disappointed that the president did not avail himself of the opportunity to taste their local salmon, a product in which they take great pride. Perhaps they hoped that the superior quality of their local product compared to that of Moscow might remind Putin of the worth of the periphery and help disprove the perceived marginality of their region. Concern for the well-being and security of the president in the light of Primorskii Krai's status as a special military region that had been closed to outsiders during the Soviet period may have deprived Putin of the chance to sample this local delicacy, due to fears of poisoning or contamination.

While in this episode salmon can be seen as symbolizing the relationship between the center and periphery of the Russian state, this fish also carries special meaning for many elderly Koreans and occupies an important place in their childhood memories. They remember the RFE as a place rich with fresh fish from both the rivers and the sea, in contrast to the inland steppes of Central Asia that are cut off from the ocean. Salmon need both river and sea during their lifecycle, and thus they came to symbolize the Far East that these elderly Koreans had to leave. Just as salmon return to the river where they were born in order to die, some Koreans told me that, during their time of residence in Central Asia, they had always hoped to return to the place of their birth and be buried in the Far East.