Koreans in Japan

Koreans in Japan are the ethnic Korean residents of Japan. They currently constitute the largest ethnic minority group in Japan. The majority of Koreans in Japan are Zainichi Koreans, also often known as Zainichi for short, who are the permanent ethnic Korean residents of Japan. The term "Zainichi Korean" refers only to long term, permanent residents of Japan who have retained either their Joseon (old, undivided Korea) or South Korean nationalities, not Korean Japanese (Korean: 한국계 일본인/조선계 일본인, Hanja: 韓國系日本人/朝鮮系日本人, Japanese: 韓国系日本人/朝鮮系日本人), who are ethnic Koreans who have acquired Japanese nationality through naturalization.

The Japanese word Zainichi itself means "staying in Japan." "Zainichi" usually refers to Zainichi Koreans because of their significant presence in Japanese society.

Statistics

Restrictions of passage from Korean peninsula (April, 1919-1922), 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, restrictions of passage from Busan (October, 1925), opening of independent travel service by Koreans between Jeju and Osaka (April, 1930), Park Choon-Geum was elected for the House of Representatives of Japan (February, 1932), removal of restrictions of civil recruit from Korean peninsula (September, 1939), public recruit from Korean peninsula (March, 1942), labor conscription from Korean peninsula (September, 1944), the end of WWII and the beginning of repatriation (1945), Cheju Uprising (April, 1948), the Korean War (June, 1950), the Home-coming Movement to North Korea (December, 1959-1983), Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea (1965), North Korean abductions of Japanese (1977-1983, Japanese ratification of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1982), 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, 1997 Asian Financial Crisis

According to the statistics at Immigration Bureau of Japan^[1] there were 593,489 Koreans in Japan in 2007. This figure does not include those who have adopted Japanese citizenship.

The 2005 figures are as follows:^[2]

• Those with permanent resident status (general and special categories): 515,570
• Naturalized Japanese citizens: 284,840
• Long-term visitors: 82,666
• Korean students in Japan: 18,208
• Total: 901,284

History

Origins

Modern Zainichi Koreans can trace their diaspora to the early 20th century under Imperial Japanese rule. In 1910, as the result of the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty, all Korean people became subjects of the Empire of Japan. Korean tends insist that Japanese land and production confiscation initiatives against Korean farmers during the 1910s caused a wave of forced migrants during the 1920s while Japanese side counter by arguing that Japanese colonisation kick started Korea's defunct feudal economy and that majority of immigration was due to voluntary immigrant seeking better economic opportunity. During the World War II, large number of Korean were also conscripted to Japan, some of them forced to work in slave like condition, especially in number of unsafe coal mines. Another wave of migration started after South Korea was devastated by the Korean War. Also noteworthy was the large number of Jeju-do residents who fled to Japan after Jeju Uprising.

The statistics regarding Zainich's immigration is scarce. However, in 1988, Mindan youth group called Zainihon Daikan Minkoku Seinendan (在日本大韓民国青年会) published a report titled "Father, tell us about that day. Report to reclaim our history" (アボジ聞かせて あの日のことを -- 我々の歴史を取り戻す運動報告書) The report included a survey of first generation Korean's reasons for immigration. The result was 13.3% for conscription, 39.6% for economics, 17.3% for marriage and family, 9.5% for study/academic, 20.2% for other reasons and 0.2% for unknown. ^[3] The survey excluded those who were under 12 when they arrived in Japan.

During World War II

In 1939, labor shortages due to World War II led to organised official recruitment of Koreans to work in mainland Japan, initially through civilian agents, and later directly, often involving elements of coercion or deception. In 1944, the Japanese authorities extended the mobilization of Japanese civilians for labor to the Korean peninsula. Of the 5,400,000 Koreans conscripted, about 670,000 were taken to mainland Japan (including Karafuto Prefecture (present-day Sakhalin, now part of Russia) for civilian labor. Those who were brought to Japan were forced to work in factories, in mines and as laborers, often under appalling conditions. About 60,000 died between 1939 and 1945 from harsh treatment, inhumane working conditions and allied bombings.^[4] Most of the wartime laborers went home after the war, but some remained in Japan, while 43,000 of those in Karafuto, which had been occupied by the Soviet Union just prior to Japan's surrender, were refused repatriation to either mainland Japan or the Korean peninsula, and were thus trapped in Sakhalin, stateless; they became the ancestors of the Sakhalin Koreans.^[5]

A 1982 survey by the Korean Youth Association showed that conscripted labor accounts for 13.3% of first-generation zainichi Koreans.

Loss of Japanese nationality

Immediately following the end of World War II, there were roughly 2.4 million Koreans in Japan; the majority repatriated to their ancestral homes in the southern half of the Korean peninsula, leaving only 650,000 in Japan by 1946.^[6]

Japan's defeat in the war and its loss of sovereignty over the Korean peninsula and Taiwan left the nationality status of Koreans and Taiwanese in an ambiguous position in terms of law. The Alien Registration Ordinance (外国人登録令, Gaikokujin-tōroku-rei) of 2 May 1947, ruled that Koreans and some Taiwanese were to be provisionally treated as foreign nationals. Given the lack of a functional nation on the Korean peninsula, Koreans were provisionally registered under the name of Joseon (Japanese: Chōsen, 朝鮮), the old name of undivided Korea.

In 1948, the northern and southern parts of Korea declared independence individually, making Joseon, or the old undivided Korea, a defunct nation. The new government of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) made a request to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, then the occupying power of Japan, to change the nationality registration of Zainichi Koreans to Daehan Minguk (대한민국, 大韓民國; Japanese: Daikan Minkoku, 大韓民国), the official name of the new nation. Following this, from 1950 onwards, Zainichi Koreans were allowed to voluntarily re-register their nationality as such.

The Allied occupation of Japan ended on 28 April 1952 with the San Francisco Peace Treaty, in which Japan formally abandoned its territorial claim to the Korean peninsula, and as a result, Zainichi Koreans formally lost their Japanese nationality.^[7]

The division on the Korean peninsula led to division among Koreans in Japan. Mindan, or the Korean Residents Union in Japan, was set up in 1946 as a pro-South offshoot of Chōren (League of Koreans in Japan), the main Korean residents' organisation, which had a socialist ideology. Following the May Day riots of 1952, the pro-North organisation was made illegal, but it re-formed under various guises and went on to form the "General Association of Korean Residents in Japan", or Chongryon, in 1955. This organisation kept to its socialist, and by extension pro-North stance, and enjoyed the active financial support and advisement of the North Korean government.^[6]

In 1965 Japan concluded a Treaty on Basic Relations with South Korea and recognized the South Korean government as the only legitimate government of Korea.^[6]

Division between Chongryon and Mindan

Out of the two Korean organizations in Japan, the pro-North Chongryon has been the more militant in terms of retaining Koreans' ethnic identity. Its policies included:

• Operation of about 60 ethnic Korean schools across Japan, initially partly funded by the North Korean government, in which lessons were conducted in Korean. They maintain a strong pro-North Korean ideology, which has sometimes come under criticism from pupils, parents, and the public alike.
• Discouraging its members from taking up Japanese citizenship.
• Discouraging its members from marrying Japanese.
• Chongryon-operated businesses and banks to provide the necessary jobs, services, and social networks for Zainichi Koreans outside mainstream society.
• Opposition to Zainichi Koreans' right to vote or participation in Japanese elections, which they saw as an unacceptable attempt at assimilation into Japanese society.^[8]
• A home-coming movement to North Korea in the late 1950s,^[9] which it hailed as a socialist "Paradise on Earth". Some 90,000 Zainichi Koreans and their Japanese spouses moved to the North before the migration eventually died down as the appalling conditions which awaited them became increasingly clear.

Pro-North Zainichi who maintained their Joseon nationalities have been called "North Koreans in Japan" in English by writers such as Sonia Ryang. While this term is technically correct, it is somewhat misleading. Zainichi Chōsenjin in the vast majority of cases settled in Japan before the modern state of North Korea was instituted, and in most cases originate from the south of the Korean Peninsula. Their status as "North Koreans" is based almost entirely on their historical ideological loyalties.

Well into at least the 1970s, Chongryon was the dominant Zainichi group, and in some ways remains more politically significant today in Japan. However, the widening disparity between the political and economic conditions of the two Koreas has since made Mindan, the pro-South Korean group, the larger and certainly the less politically controversial faction. 65% of Zainichi are now said to be affiliated to Mindan. The number of pupils receiving ethnic education from Chongryon-affiliated schools has declined sharply, with many, if not most, Zainichi now opting to send their children to mainstream Japanese schools. Some Chongryon schools have been closed for lack of funding, and there is serious doubt as to the continuing viability of the system as a whole. (Mindan has also traditionally operated a school system for the children of its members, although it has been always been less widespread and organized compared to its Chongryon counterpart, and is said to be nearly defunct at the present time.)

Repatriation to Korea

Repatriation of Zainichi Koreans from Japan conducted under the auspices of the Japanese Red Cross began to receive official support from the Japanese government as early as 1956; a North Korean-sponsored repatriation programme with support of the Chōsen Sōren (The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) officially began in 1959. The Japanese government was in favour of repatriation not only as a way to reduce the number of welfare or other public assistance recipients in a time of economic difficulty, but also as a way to rid the country of ethnic minority residents regarded as "Communist", "violent", "ignorant", or "subversive."^[10] Though the United States government was initially unaware of Tokyo's cooperation with the repatriation programme, they offered no objection after they were informed of it; the US ambassador to Japan was quoted by his Australian counterpart as describing the Koreans in Japan as "a poor lot including many Communists and many criminals".^[11]

Despite the fact that 97% of the Zainichi Koreans originated from the southern half of the Korean peninsula, the North was initially a far more popular destination for repatriation than the South; however, as word came back of difficult conditions faced in the North, and with the 1965 normalization of Japan-South Korea relations, the popularity of repatriation to the North dropped sharply, though the trickle of returnees to the reclusive communist state continued as late as 1984.^[12] In total, 93,340 people migrated from Japan to North Korea under the repatriation programme; an estimated 6,000 were actually Japanese migrating with Korean spouses. Around one hundred such repatriates are believed to have later escaped from North Korea; the most famous is Kang Chol-Hwan, who published a book about his experience, The Aquariums of Pyongyang.^[11] Though repatriates in general faced social discrimination and political repression, with as many as 10,000 being imprisoned in concentration camps, some rose to positions of power in the North Korean government; one returnee who later defected back to Japan, known only by his Japanese pseudonym Kenki Aoyama, worked for North Korean intelligence as a spy in Beijing.^[13] The repatriations have been the subject of numerous creative works in Japan, due to the influence they had on the Zainichi Korean community; one documentary film about a family in which the sons repatriated while the parents and daughter remained in Japan, Dear Pyongyang, won a special jury prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.^[14]

Some Zainichi Koreans have also gone to South Korea to study or to settle; for example, author Lee Yangji studied at Seoul National University in the early 1980s.^[15]

Integration into Japanese society

Zainichi today have established a stable presence in Japan after years of activism. Through Mintohren, community support by Zainichi organizations (Mindan, Chongryon, Mintoren, among others), other minority groups (Ainu, Burakumin, Ryūkyūans, Uilta, Nivkhs and others), and sympathetic Japanese, they have improved the social atmosphere for Zainichi in Japan. There are also Koreans living in Japan who try to present themselves as Japanese to prevent discrimination.^[16] Most younger Zainichi now speak only Japanese, go to Japanese school, work for Japanese firms and increasingly now marry Japanese. Most of naturalization occurs among young and the period where they seek naturalisation coincide with the time they seek formal employment or marriage. Those who established their life already choose to retain their South Korean or Joseon nationality as part of their heritage.

Assimilation

One of the most pressing issue of Zainich Community is the rate of assimilation of Zainich into Japanese. About 9,000 to 11,000 Koreans naturalize in Japan every year out of slightly less than 600,000. ^[17] One crucial aspect of naturalisation for Zainich Korean is that both Mindan and Chongryon linked the Korean ethnic identity to Korean nationality. (neither Japanese nor South Korean nationality laws allow multiple citizenship for adults.) By their definition, opting Japanese passport means becoming a Japanese rather than a Korean Japanese. Though there are few cases of celebrity who naturalize with their Korean name, majority of them formerly adopt their pass name. This means that rate of naturalisation can be taken as rough measure of assimilation.

Touitu Nippou (統一日報), Korean Japanese newspaper, reported the statistics from Japanese Health and Labour ministry, there were 8376 marriage between Japanese and Korean. Compared to 1971 marriages in 1965, when the statistics begin, the number roughly quadrupled and it constitute about 1% of 730971 total marriage in Japan. The highest number of marriage between Japanese man and Korean woman was 8940 in 1990. Since 1991, it fluctuate around 6000. On the other hand, marriage between Korean man and Japanese woman is 2335 in 2006. It has been stable since the number reached 2000 in 1984. ^[18]

In 1975, Hidenori Sakanaka (坂中 英徳), a bureaucrat in Ministry of Justice published then a highly controversial paper known as "Sakanaka Paper". In the paper, he stated that assertion by both Mindan and Chongryon that Zainich are destined to eventually return to homeland Korea is no longer realistic. He further predicted that Zainichi would naturally disappear in 21st century unless they abandon their link between Korean identity and Korean nationality. He further argue that Japanese government should stop treating Zainich as a temporal residence (with special status) and start providing proper legal framework for their permanent settlement as "Korean Japanese".

In 1995, December issue, "Gendai Korea" (Modern Korea) published another commentary from Sakanaka titled "20 years after Sakanaka Paper" to assess further development. He pointed out that in 80s, 50% of Zainich Korean married Japanese and in 90s, the rate was 80%. (In fact, he quoted only 15%-18% Korean marriage during 1990 to 1994) He also pointed out the change in law in 1985 which grant Japanese citizenship to a child with either of parents being Japanese. (Previous law only granted the citizenship to a child with Japanese father.) In practice, this would mean that less than 20% of Zainich marriage result in Zainichi status. As naturalisation are concentrated among younger generation, Zainich population is expected to collapse once older generation start to dies out in two decades.

Residents Registration

Japan used to take fingerprints as part of the registration process for foreign residents, a policy which has been a subject of much controversy, especially among resident Koreans. After many years of campaigning, the requirement was abolished in 1992 for those with "Special Permanent Residents" status i.e. zainichi Koreans. In 1999, the Alien Registration Law was further amended to eliminate fingerprinting of foreign residents in general. Mindan expressed disappointment as it did not eliminate the requirement that foreign residents carry their registration cards at all times, and Koreans protested in Tokyo alongside Thais, Filipinos and Brazilians dressed in traditional costumes of their homelands.

Right to vote & government employment

Long-term ethnic Korean residents of Japan who have not taken up Japanese nationality currently have the legal status of Tokubetsu Eijusha ("Special Permanent Residents") and are granted special rights and privileges compared to other foreigners, especially in matters such as re-entry and deportation statutes. These privileges were originally given to residents with South Korean nationality in 1965, and were extended in 1991 to cover those who have retained their "Joseon nationality".

Over the decades, zainichi Koreans have been campaigning to regain their Japanese citizenship rights without having to adopt Japanese nationality. The right to claim social welfare benefits was granted in 1954, followed by access to the national health insurance scheme (1960s) and state pensions (1980s). There is some doubt over the legality of some of these policies as the Public Assistance Law, which governs social welfare payments, is seen to apply to "Japanese nationals."

There have also been campaigns to allow zainichi Koreans to take up government employment and participate in elections, rights which have been open to Japanese nationals only. Since 1992 Mindan has been campaigning for the right to vote in elections for prefectural and municipal assemblies, mayors and prefecture governors, backed by the South Korean government. In 1997 Kawasaki became the first municipality to hire a Korean national. So far, three prefectures - Osaka, Nara and Kanagawa - have supported voting rights for permanent foreign residents.

However, the Japanese Diet has not yet passed a resolution regarding this matter despite several attempts by a section within governing Liberal Democratic Party to do so, and there is considerable public and political opposition against granting voting rights to those who have not yet adopted Japanese nationality. Instead, the requirements for naturalization has been steadily lowered for Zainich to the point that only criminal records or affiliation to North Korea would be hindrance for naturalisation. Both Zainich organisation oppose this counter move, as both organisation see naturalisation as de facto assimilation. Chongryon, furthermore, opposes moves to allow zainichi Koreans to participate in Japanese politics, on the basis that it assimilates Koreans into Japanese society and thus weakens the Korean ethnic identity.^[19]

Korean Schools

The pro-Pyongyang Chongryon operates 218 Korean schools (Korean: 조선학교/우리학교, Hanja: 朝鮮學校, Japanese: 朝鮮学校) across Japan, including kindergartens and one university. All lessons, and all conversations within the school are conducted in Korean. They teach a strong pro-North Korean ideology and allegiance to Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. (Mindan also operates a few schools but are said to be nearly defunct.) They are not classified as regular schools under Japanese law as they do not follow the national curriculum, but rather as "miscellaneous schools" alongside driving schools. This has led to many discrepancies with regular Japanese schools which Chongryon calls discriminatory.

One of the issues is funding. The schools were originally set up and run with support from the North Korean government but this money has now dried up, and with dropping pupil numbers, many schools are facing financial difficulties. The Japanese government has refused Chongryon's requests that it funds ethnic schools in line with regular Japanese schools, citing Article 89 of the Japanese Constitution, where use of public funds for education by non-public bodies is prohibited. In reality the schools are in fact partly funded by local authorities, but subsidies takes place in the form of special benefits paid to the families of pupils, as opposed to paying the schools directly, in order to avoid a blatant breach of Article 89. It is also much less than regular Japanese schools.

Another issue is an examination called the High School Equivalency Test, or daiken, which qualifies those who have not graduated from a regular high school to apply for a place in a state university and take an entrance exam. Until recently, only those who have completed compulsory education (i.e. up to junior high school) were entitled to take daiken; this meant pupils of ethnic schools had to do extra courses before being allowed to take the exam. In 1999 the requirement was amended so that anyone over a certain age are qualified. Campaigners were not satisfied because this still meant graduates of non-Japanese high schools had to take daiken. In 2003, the Education Ministry removed the requirement to take the Equivalency Test from graduates of Chinese schools, Mindan-run Korean schools and international schools affiliated with Western nations and accredited by U.S. and British organizations. However, this did not apply to graduates of pro-Pyongyang Korean schools, saying it could not approve their curricula. The decision was left up to individual universities, 70% of which allowed Korean school graduates to apply directly.^[20]

Pass name

Traditionally. Zainichi Koreans used Japanese-style names in public, but some Zainichi Koreans, including celebrities and professional sportsmen, use their original Korean names. Well-known ethnic Koreans who use Japanese names include Hanshin Tigers star Tomoaki Kanemoto and pro wrestlers Riki Chōshū and Akira Maeda.

Controversies over Chongryon

Main article: Chongryon

For a long time, Chongryon enjoyed unofficial immunity from searches and investigations, partly because authorities were reluctant to carry out any actions which may provoke not only accusations of racism but lead to an international incident. Chongryon has long been suspected of a variety of criminal acts on behalf of North Korea, such as illegal transfer of funds to North Korea and espionage, but no action was taken. However, recent escalating tensions between and Japan and North Korea over a number of issues, namely North Korea's abduction of Japanese nationals which came to light in 2002 as well as its nuclear weapons program, has led to a resurgence of public animosity against Chongryon. Chongryon schools have alleged numerous cases of verbal abuse and physical violence directed against their students and buildings, and Chongryon facilities have been targets of protests and occasional incidents. The Japanese authorities have recently started to crack down on Chongryon, with investigations and arrests for charges ranging from tax evasion to espionage. These moves are usually criticized by Chongryon as acts of political suppression.^[21] .

Furthermore, the Japanese authorities have recently started to crack down on Chongryon activities, moves usually criticized by Chongryon as acts of political suppression.^[21]

In December 2001, police raided Chongryon's Tokyo headquarters and related facilities to investigate Chongryon officials' suspected role in embezzlement of funds from the failed Tokyo Chogin credit union.^[22]

In 2002, Shotaro Tochigi, deputy head of the Public Security Investigation Agency told a session of the House of Representatives Financial Affairs Committee that the agency is investigating Chongryon for suspected illicit transfers of funds to the North.^[23] The image of Chongryon was further tarnished by North Korea's surprise 2002 admission that it had indeed abducted Japanese nationals in the 1970s, as it had been categorically and fiercely denying for many years that the abductions had ever taken place and dismissing rumors of North Korean involvement as an allegedly “racist fantasy.” Some of the recent drop in membership of Chongryon is thought to be attributed to ordinary members of Chongryon who had believed the party line feeling deeply humiliated and disillusioned upon discovering that they had been used as mouthpieces to deny what was seen in Japan as serious wrongdoing by North Korea.

In March 2006, police raided six Chongryon-related facilities in an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the June 1980 disappearance of one of the alleged abductees, Tadaaki Hara. Police spokesman said that the head of Chongryon at the time is suspected of co-operating in his kidnap.^[24]

The operation of the Mangyongbong-92 (temporarily suspended for six months as of July 2006), a North Korean ferry that is the only regular direct link between North Korea and Japan, is a subject of significant tension, as the ferry is primarily used by Chongryon to send its members to North Korea and to supply North Korea with money and goods donated by the organization and its members. Although the humanitarian aspect of such contributions cannot be denied, particularly given that older Chongryon members have immediate family in North Korea, Chongryon members also continue to send lavish gifts, such as cash, expensive western liquor, and Japanese beef, to Kim Jong Il and other high-ranking North Korean officials.. In 2003, a North Korean defector made a statement to the US Senate committee stating that more than 90% of the parts used by North Korea to construct its missiles were brought from Japan aboard the ship.^[25]

In May 2006, Chongryon and the pro-South Mindan agreed to reconcile, only for the agreement to break down the following month due to Mindan's distrust of Chongryon. North Korea's missile tests in July 2006 have deepened the divide, with Chongryon refusing to condemn the missile tests, expressing only its regret that the Japanese government has suspended the operation of the Mangyongbong-92. Outraged senior Mindan officials joined mainstream Japanese politicians and media in sharply criticizing Chongryon's silence over the matter.

List of famous Zainichi

• Masutatsu Ōyama
• Isao Harimoto

See also

• Koreatowns in Japan
• Sōshi-kaimei
• Demographics of Japan
• Ethnic issues in Japan
• Korean-Japanese disputes
• Ryukyuan people
• Ainu people
• Yamato people

Footnotes

External links

• FCCJ (The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan) Mr.Suganuma of former Public Security Investigation Agency tells it about Zainichi Korean (Japanese, English)
• South Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan) (Korean, Japanese, English)
• History of Mindan (English)
• Online Newspaper covering Zainichi Korean and Mindan (English)
• The Federation of Korean Associations, Japan (Korean, Japanese)
• North Korean Residents Union in Japan (Joseon Chongryon) (Korean, Japanese)
• The Han World - a site for Korean residents in Japan.
• The Self-Identities of Zainichi Koreans - a paper on Zainichi.
• MINTOHREN: Young Koreans Against Ethnic Discrimination in Japan
• Panel discussion in San Francisco Nichi Bei Times Article
• Testing Tolerance: Fallout from North Korea's Nuclear Program Hits Minorities in Japan article from The Common Language Project