Japan's ethnic Koreans loyal to Pyongyang look to summit to bring peace, boost status - Japan Today

Japan's ethnic Koreans loyal to Pyongyang look to summit to bring peace, boost status - Japan Today


A teacher wearing traditional Korean clothes teaches English to her students at Kanagawa Korean Middle and High School in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, on June 1. Photo: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

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Japan's ethnic Koreans loyal to Pyongyang look to summit to bring peace, boost status
Today 04:35 pm JST 13 Comments



By Kwiyeon Ha


TOKYO


Ethnic Koreans in Japan loyal to Pyongyang hope next week's historic U.S.-North Korea summit will help bring reconciliation on the Korean peninsula and clarify their own murky legal status.

Their optimism has built following April's upbeat summit of the leaders of North and South Korea and ahead of next Tuesday's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

"I thought reunification was something in the distant future, especially with all the sanctions" on the North, said 17-year-old Paeng Yu Na, who attends one of about 60 schools across Japan affiliated with the North.

"But it now feels so much closer," said Paeng, who wears traditional Korean dress along with her classmates, although not beyond school walls to avoid attacks from right-wing nationalists.

Paeng is one of the zainichi minority, Japan's largest such ethnic group, descended from Koreans who moved or were brought to the country during its colonial rule of the peninsula from 1910 to 1945.



High school students from a dance club at Kanagawa Korean Middle and High School take a selfie after their traditional dance performance at a local international day event to promote a multicultural society in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, on May 20. Photo: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Over the years, many ethnic Koreans have opted for Japanese citizenship, while others have taken South Korean nationality, totalling about 450,000.

But a smaller community of about 30,000 have remained loyal to Pyongyang, stuck in a legal gray zone with permanent residency but no legal nationality, as the countries lack diplomatic ties.

Born and raised in Japan, most differ little from Japanese counterparts on the surface, speaking the language fluently and often marrying Japanese. But many have faced discrimination, with the ebb and flow of international politics shadowing their lives.

Job opportunities for pro-Pyongyang Koreans were long limited to firms run by members of their community, including nightclubs, barbecue restaurants and pachinko pinball parlours.

Some 90,000 in fact opted to leave for North Korea between 1959 and 1984, lured by the slogan "Let's go back to the fatherland!" Those numbers plunged in the 1980s as tales of the North's poverty spread.

Others supported the North with steady cash remittances and by carrying goods on a ferry that made occasional trips between the two nations until tightening sanctions banned its port calls.

Each new round of North Korean nuclear tests brought threats and abuse. Students like Paeng, once a not unfamiliar sight on Tokyo streets in their long, traditional uniforms, became particular targets.



Hong Ryong Su, an ethic Korean in Japan, has a dinner with his ethnic Korean wife and an ethnic Korean friend who works for the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), at his house in Tokyo, on June 3. Photo: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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Hong Ryong Su, 49, a third-generation zainichi, hopes the summit will yield not only a treaty ending the 1950s Korean War, which culminated in a truce that left both sides technically at war, but also improve conditions for the community.

"Living in Japan, we see a new path opening that will also normalise relations between North Korea and Japan," Hong said over a meal of kimchi and stir-fried beef at his home in an industrial suburb of Tokyo.

"We can't think of that starting without the first (summit) happening, so we'll be watching developments with bated breath," said Hong, adding that he stood ready to toast any successful outcome.

It is unlikely that just one meeting will achieve a major breakthrough, however, said Ryom Mun Song, a professor of international relations at Korea University, which has ties to Pyongyang but is not recognised by Japan.

"It will be difficult if each side just presents conditions the other side cannot accept," said Ryom, another third-generation ethnic Korean.

"However, if both sides keep in sight the goal (of complete nuclear disarmament), and through confidence-building measures, address it step-by-step with further meetings, then I think we can expect great results."



A high school student from Kanagawa Korean Middle and High School sweeps the corridor where photos about the summits between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L), the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (top in R), and the meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korea's envoy Kim Yong Chol, are displayed on a board in the school in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Photo: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Suggestions for North Korea to follow Libya in scrapping its nuclear weapons irked many North Koreans in Japan, who drew an unfavorable parallel with subsequent events.

"Didn't the United States say we should take the Libyan approach? But wasn't Libya ruined by this approach?" asked 95-year-old Baek Chong Won.

Last month, North Korea criticized U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, who had urged it to give up its nuclear arsenal in a deal that would mirror Libya's abandonment of its program for weapons of mass destruction.

But Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed by NATO-backed militants several years later.

"How can we easily give up our nuclear weapons that North Korea developed when it had nothing to eat?" asked Baek, whose lapel pin portrayed the last two generations of North Korea's leaders, forebears of its current ruler.© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018.


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13 Comments Login to comment



Yuko MaedaToday 04:23 pm JST


If they are so loyal to Pyongyang, why not move there and then you can see how great you have it here.-2( +6 / -8 )



zichiToday 04:30 pm JST


The numbers are lower than in other articles which have stated 150,000 North Korean with 80 schools.1( +1 / -0 )



macvToday 04:41 pm JST


those kids were born of grandparents abducted to Japan as slave laborers, they didn't decide to be born here, a fact of history that Japan chooses to ignore.0( +2 / -2 )



smithinjapanToday 04:49 pm JST


Yuko Maeda: "If they are so loyal to Pyongyang, why not move there and then you can see how great you have it here."

Because then there would be nothing but intolerant bigots left here to fight amongst themselves. What would you guys do if you didn't have ethnic minorities to drive around and threaten or act superior to? They don't "have it so much better" when they constantly have to be reminded of it and looked down on all the same, same there is no such thing as "omotenashi" when you want a pat on the back and demand recognition for it. Japan is a better place FOR the increasing mix of people.

Now, that said, I can understand wanting to keep your nationality and definitely understanding spreading culture -- something all Japanese enjoy doing through travel and exports, as well as teaching, and especially with the "what do you think of us" campaigns and questionnaires -- but I don't really understand the extreme commitment to a dictatorship. I do think it has got to be better here, aside from when posters demand you leave if you don't say anything but nice stuff, and I can understand wanting to help people back in NK as well, but not the loyalty.4( +7 / -3 )



macvToday 04:55 pm JST


same as all the offspring of native Africans abducted as slaves to the USA. I remember demonstrations where whites would yell 'Go back to Africa where you belong' but those Black Americans had never even been to Africa. Same thing with born in Japan zainichi Koreans.4( +6 / -2 )



Toasted HereticToday 05:11 pm JST



If they are so loyal to Pyongyang, why not move there and then you can see how great you have it here.

Nothing wrong with loyalty to where your origins are, that's down to the individual.

There's people here loyal to the US, UK, France, Germany, Pakistan, Israel, Turkey, the Philippines, China, Australia and so on.

If people want to celebrate their culture, be it St Patrick's Day, Eid, Christmas or the 4th of July - what's the issue?

I've been to Japanese celebrations in other countries, where nikkei, issei, nisei, sansei and so on can flout their culture and live there.-1( +3 / -4 )



darknutsToday 05:27 pm JST



Some 90,000 in fact opted to leave for North Korea between 1959 and 1984, lured by the slogan "Let's go back to the fatherland!" Those numbers plunged in the 1980s as tales of the North's poverty spread.

So much for loyalty... Just go to South Korea, it's better.0( +3 / -3 )



econstatsToday 05:43 pm JST


"Japan is a better place FOR the increasing mix of people."

Really? Give me an example. The way Europe is better with the mix of people? Kumbaya my lord. Kumbaya my lord. Take a look at Europe and America. WHAT A JOKE . People in Europe and America living in harmony? LOL KUMBAYA!-6( +2 / -8 )



econstatsToday 05:54 pm JST


By the way, North Korean has fired missiles at Japan and kidnapped Japanese Children. Yet, the Koreans in Japan remain loyal to the government of North Korea? Could you imagine, if Muslims in the west were loyal to Islamic state or Al-Qaeda. Carrying around pictures of Osama Bin Landin? Please!-3( +4 / -7 )



Alfie NoakesToday 05:57 pm JST


I ain't got no quarrel with them North Koreans.4( +5 / -1 )



goldorakToday 06:09 pm JST



same as all the offspring of native Africans abducted as slaves to the USA (...) Same thing with born in Japan zainichi Koreans.

Not quite the same imo. The vast majority of African-Americans no longer feel any strong ties with Africa and certainly do not 'feel' African. They aren't involved in African politics nor attend African schools. Different story for zainichi who still feel Korean, attend Korean schools etc (nothing wrong with that btw)0( +0 / -0 )



econstatsToday 07:03 pm JST


"who deserve consideration as to the only home they've ever known"

Really? This what Kim Song Gi, a north Korean soccer player who was born in Japan and played for the North Korean team said, “I’ve never thought of taking Japanese citizenship,” said Kim. “My soul is 100 percent North Korean.”

OK his soul is 100% but he wants to live in Japan? If his soul is 100 % North Korean why doesnt he move to North Korea? Why did he choose to play for North Korea and not for the "only home he has ever known-Japan"?-1( +0 / -1 )



econstatsToday 07:12 pm JST


"What would you guys do if you didn't have ethnic minorities(in Japan)"

Live in peace and harmony with our fellow Japanese people. We would not have to read sanctimonious and hypocritical comments written by foreigners with too much time on their hands, not enough wisdom and knowledge in their brains and smug sense of superiority in themselves.0( +0 / -0 )
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