Funding cuts for Japan's North Korean schools reignite divisions over identity, loyalty

South China Morning Post

27-05-2025

Members of the North Korean community in
Japan have accused Tokyo of systematically undermining ethnic Korean schools through funding cuts – echoing Pyongyang's denunciation of the policy as a 'violation of human rights' – in a long-running dispute shaped by Tokyo's colonial rule and bitter divisions over identity and loyalty.
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Senior members of Chosen Soren – the pro-Pyongyang organisation representing North Korean residents of Japan – are 'very angry and dissatisfied' and have urged Tokyo to restore funding for their schools, according to Choe Kwan-ik, former managing editor of the Choson Sinbo newspaper.
'Every year, local governments provide less and less financial support to our schools. We have been fighting for years to address this problem caused by the national and local governments, and we are finding that an increasing number of our Japanese friends are also now voicing their opposition to the policy,' Choe told This Week in Asia.
'But basically, Japan is politically very unfriendly to the North Korean community here,' said Choe, who now acts as an adviser to the publication and is active in supporting causes important to Chosen Soren.
Policemen stand guard in front of the headquarters of the Chosen Soren, the pro-Pyongyang organisation representing North Korean residents of Japan, in Tokyo. Photo: AFP
The organisation is a legacy of Tokyo's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula between 1910 and the end of World War II in 1945, during which thousands of Koreans were brought to Japan to work for Japanese companies. After Japan's surrender, many chose to stay, with their loyalties uncertain on the divided peninsula.