Latest news with #Chongryon
Asahi Shimbun
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Asahi Shimbun
N. Korean students protest exclusion from tuition-free aid
Korean school students in Japan who were excluded from a program to make high school education free from fiscal 2025 are keeping up the pressure on the government, which they accuse of discrimination. Students from the schools, which are affiliated with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), continue staging weekly Friday protests in front of the education ministry building in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. From April, the government will provide up to 118,800 yen ($810) annually to all households with a high school student, regardless of income, effectively making public high schools tuition free. The system to alleviate the financial burden of households with high schoolers started in 2010. At the time, public high school tuition became free and some financial aid for households with children who attend private high schools also was provided. However, a total of 10 "Chosen Gakko" North Korea-affiliated schools nationwide have been excluded from the system. They were also excluded this time from the latest financial education assistance. While some accuse the government of discrimination, others say that the Korean schools should change with the times. PUBLIC PROTESTS CONTINUE On March 7, 110 students from Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School assembled for their weekly protest at the education ministry building. The students shouted, 'We want to take pride in our roots,' 'The only place we can learn the Korean language and culture is Korean schools,' and 'Apply the system to our school.' The weekly 'Friday action' of these students and their Japanese supporters marked the 560th time since the protests started in May 2013. According to the education ministry, because the system intends to 'secure education for all students who are willing to study,' schools for foreign students such as Chinese and Brazilian schools have been covered by the system. However, the Korean schools have been excluded. The exclusion from the tuition-free system started from the Democratic Party-controlled administration in 2010, and in 2013, after the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, Komeito, regained power, the administration officially announced the exclusion. 'There is no progress in the abduction issue, and the Korean schools have close ties with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, which supports the North Korean administration,' said Hakubun Shimomura, then education minister. According to the website of Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School and other sources, Korean schools in Japan took root from lecture halls built in some places in Japan after World War II. The schools were started by Koreans who felt they were deprived of their native language while Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Because the schools suffer from financial difficulties, North Korean authorities have provided financial assistance to them since the 1950s. 'We hope our students will integrate into Japanese society as Koreans,' Yoon Tae Gil, principal of Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School, said of the school's educational policy. FOURTH-GENERATION KOREAN STUDENTS Yoon said that most students of the Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School are fourth-generation Koreans living in Japan. Their native language is Japanese, and 30 to 40 percent of them will continue on to attend Japanese universities. In public, they do not differ from Japanese high school students, in conversing on topics such as Korean TV dramas and dating. The lessons are basically taught in Korean at the Korean schools. Students learn about the history of the Japanese colonial period, but also math and science are taught in accordance with the Japanese standard school curriculum. However, students learn about the modern history of North Korea, and in their textbooks, honorific titles are used for important figures such as former President Kim Il Sung. Students also visit North Korea for school graduation trips. 'It may look strange to Japanese, but we can't keep being separated from ethnicity education and our home country, which supported us during our hardest times,' Yoon said. The school teaches students that North Korea was wrong to abduct Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s The tuition of the schools is about 30,000 yen ($206) per month. So, Yoon said there are some families that are forced to give up on having their children attend Korean schools. According to the education ministry, Korean school students nationwide numbered 802 in 2023, which is about half of the enrollment in 2014. Some people are concerned that Korean schools could disappear. 'We can't discontinue our school, which is the center of our Korean community,' said an 18-year-old student from Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School, who has participated in the Friday protests. Another participant, who now attends a Japanese private university in Tokyo and used to go to a Korean school, passes out fliers every month calling for realizing tuition-free Korean schools. He wants the school's future secured, which had always affirmed his Korean identity. But the prolonged exclusion by the Japanese government makes him feel helpless. A 26-year-old woman who works for a Japanese company after graduating from a Korean school in the Kanto region said, 'Unless Japanese society's evaluation of North Korea changes, Korean schools will not be accepted.' FAILS IN 5 LAWSUITS NATIONWIDE Challenging the exclusion of Korean schools from the tuition-free education system, Korean school graduates filed lawsuits in five district courts in Japan between 2013 and 2014. One court ruled the exclusion was illegal, but all the lawsuits proceeded to the Supreme Court, which ruled against them. The courts determined that the Korean schools were affiliated with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan and that they teach students to regard North Korean leaders as absolute figures, which is prohibited as 'improper control' under the Basic Education Law. Journalist Jiro Ishimaru, 62, who has covered North Korea for more than 30 years, criticized the exclusion of Korean schools from the tuition-free system. 'It is a sanction against North Korea mainly because of the abduction issue,' he said. 'Children who are not directly involved in the issue are burdened with the issue and it is discrimination.' The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of the United Nations issued an advisory to the Japanese government not to discriminate against Korean schools. Meanwhile, Ishimaru points out that teaching at the Korean schools advocates for the continuation of the North Korean dictatorship. He believes that this educational philosophy is also the reason for the decreasing number of students at Korean schools. 'Korean schools and the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan should discuss this with a wide range of Koreans, including those who are living apart from Korean communities in Japan,' he said.
See - Sada Elbalad
05-03-2025
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
Spokesperson for Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea Issues Press Statement
A spokesperson for the Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea issued the following press statement "The illegal violation of copyright by U.S. information dealers can never be tolerated" on March 3: The U.S. shameless infringement on the inviolable sovereignty of the DPRK is being perpetrated in various realms. Typical of such deeds is the U.S. unhesitating illegal infringement on the intellectual property of the dignified DPRK and the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) through the internet. The U.S. online medium on the DPRK "NK NEWS" posts on its sister sites "NK PRO" and "KOREA PRO" articles smearing the DPRK and Chongryon by craftily misusing the information from their publications and news items. It has openly put in a database of the site "KCNA WATCH" the said DPRK information, illegally stolen irrespective of the publicly-recognized international law, allowing its subscribers free access to the information as its own. So far more than 600 000 pieces of information of over 70 kinds has been posted on the site without permission. The Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea strongly condemns the impudent act of "NK NEWS" as an online violent robbery on the inviolable intellectual property of the DPRK and as a wanton violation of the Berne Convention and the WIPO Copyright Treaty. It is illegal and criminal to duplicate, post and distribute any writings without permission from its author. However, as the U.S. does not hesitate to invade other countries in order to satisfy its cupidity, it regards the infringement on other countries' copyright as a trifle. Chongryon, a dignified overseas compatriots' organization of the DPRK and authorized by the media of the DPRK, has strongly demanded the immediate deletion of the data, posted without permission, as well as compensation and apology several times since August 2024. But, "NK NEWS" shamelessly behaved, talking about "mistakes of the operators". It was fully disclosed through investigation that such DPRK's media data, posted on the website of the "KCNA WATCH" without any permission, had been stolen from a state library in Europe which reads under a contract the KPM website run by Korean Media of Chongryon. Nevertheless, the "NK NEWS" side blustered that the credentials related to the protection of copyright and the right to use, issued by the DPRK media to the Korean Media of Chongryon under the legal procedures, cannot be recognized as it has not been certified by the U.S. jurisdictional authorities. Moreover, it has gone the lengths of making preposterous gangster-like logic that our side has to be thankful for having introduced the DPRK. This is nothing but a reckless behavior of adding to the crimes already committed by itself. The Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea strongly urges the U.S. to stop at once such poor excuses that will not work on anyone and to make an official apology and compensation for its illegal deed. We will closely watch the future attitude of "NK NEWS".
Korea Herald
17-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Kim Jong-un lays out grand vision to expand, reshape Pyongyang
Seoul says Kim's strategy focuses on achieving tangible results quickly through housing construction North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has laid out a blueprint to expand Pyongyang's urban core eastward and push for full-scale transformation, calling it the ruling party's next key project after completing his 2021-2025 plan to build 50,000 houses in the capital. Kim outlined his grand vision for the capital city during Sunday's groundbreaking ceremony for the final phase of Pyongyang's 50,000-unit housing project, North Korean state media reported on Monday. The final stage of the project is to construct 10,000 units in the Hwasong district, a newly developed residential area in northeastern Pyongyang. The 50,000-unit construction project is part of the five-year national economic plan, first proposed by Kim at the 8th Workers' Party Congress in January 2021. Kim said he intended to "briefly summarize a few key points regarding our party's policy plans for capital city construction" in his Korean-language speech. "We will complete the construction in the Hwasong district, and as the follow-up phase, push forward a policy to extend Pyongyang's street layout in the direction of Kangdong in earnest," Kim said, without elaborating on his plan to drive urbanization to the east. Kangdong County is a suburban area northeast of the city that borders South Pyongan Province. In 2021, Choson Sinbo, a pro-North newspaper produced by the Chongryon community in Tokyo, reported that upon the completion of Pyongyang's 50,000 housing units, "the city's urban layout will expand eastward, westward, and northward." In his speech, Kim also said "At the same time, we will set forth projects to transform underdeveloped areas within the capital region and outdated living and cultural areas in the suburbs." Kim pointed to Tungme-dong in Songyo district, Wolhyang-dong in Moranbong district, and Hadang-dong in Hyongjesan district in Pyongyang as underdeveloped areas that he planned to prioritize for development. "We intend to eliminate and revamp all elements in the overall urban structure that do not befit the dignity of the capital," Kim said. 'These plans will be reported to the (next) Party Congress and handed over as a key project for the next Party Central Committee." Ever since Kim's five-year plan was unveiled, there has been progress in stages, starting with the Songsin and Songhwa areas in 2021 and the three-stage Hwasong district project from 2022 to 2024. While the second stage has been finished, the completion work on the third stage is still underway. Kim prepares for party congress The Unification Ministry on Monday said that Kim put more value on tangible outcomes achievable in a short time frame prior to the next party congress, which is expected to review the achievements of the 2021-2025 development plans and propose new initiatives. 'The construction of houses is a sector where palpable results can be obtained relatively easily if manpower and materials are invested,' the Unification Ministry spokesman Koo Byung-sam told a regular press briefing. 'It appears North Korea is putting its domestic resources intensively into the area to zero in on producing tangible results first.' In that context, when Kim introduced the five-year economic development plan in 2021, the housing sector stood out with its specific numerical target, which involved 25,000 dwelling units to be constructed in the Komdok mining district of South Hamgyong Province. "There has been an aggressive push for a construction boom from the beginning of the year to guarantee the success of tasks presented by the 8th Party Congress, to enhance achievements, consolidate the regime and lay the ground for holding the 9th Party Congress," University of North Korean Studies professor Yang Moo-jin said. From January to mid-February, Kim made 12 public appearances, including four tied to construction in Kangdong County, South Hamgyong Province and North Pyongan Province. "The construction of high-class new towns in Pyongyang aims to generate loyalty among Pyongyang residents, and the 20×10 policy is used to coax local people's complaints in impoverished rural regions," Yang said. "Both schemes take advantage of a construction boom that can yield concrete results in a brief period." Kim Jong-un announced the 'Regional Development 20×10 Policy' in January 2024 with the goal of building local industrial factories in 20 counties every year to improve material and cultural living standards across the country within 10 years.
