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Japan Forward
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Forward
Chosen Soren Drifts from North Korea and Into Obscurity
As the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan ( Chosen Soren in Japanese) marks its 70th anniversary, the once-powerful pro-North Korean organization is facing a steep and possibly irreversible decline. From dwindling school subsidies and shrinking membership to growing disillusionment within its ranks and signs of neglect from Pyongyang, Chosen Soren's relevance in both Japan and North Korea is being openly questioned. Founded in 1955, Chosen Soren once served as a critical bridge between North Korea and its diaspora in Japan. The organization oversaw a vast network of Korean schools, credit unions, hospitals, and cultural associations. All were rooted in loyalty to the Kim regime and its guiding Juche (self-reliance) ideology. Article 1 of Chosen Soren's charter declares its mission as uniting all Koreans in Japan around the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In its heyday during the 1970s and '80s, Chosen Soren reportedly had up to 500,000 members and channeled tens of billions of Japanese yen (millions of USD) to North Korea. It also operated elite "Learning Groups" ( gakushu-gumi ), whose members were reportedly involved in supporting South Korean anti-government movements. They were also possibly engaged in espionage operations in Japan. During Japan's economic bubble, the group served as a financial lifeline for Pyongyang. But that power has steadily eroded. Its decline has been particularly noticeable since 2002, when then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted to the abduction of Japanese citizens. Chosen Soren had long denied this claim as fabrication. The confession shocked members, triggered internal backlash, and led to mass defections. Many left the organization entirely, joined the pro-South Korea Mindan, or naturalized as Japanese citizens. The Japanese government responded with a series of sanctions following North Korea's 2006 missile launches and nuclear tests. These included bans on North Korean ships, import restrictions, and limits on remittances. Many of those had been funneled through Chogin credit unions tied to Chosen Soren. Between 1997 and 2002, those credit unions collapsed under the weight of defaulted loans tied to North Korean remittances. Annual transfers, once measured in the billions of yen, have since fallen to just a few million (few thousand USD). Portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il displayed on the wall of a classroom at a Korean school. March 2010, Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture. Recent years have seen the organization's decline deepen. The Japanese Ministry of Education reported that some 93 municipalities still provided Korean schools with subsidies as of fiscal 2022. However, the total amount had dropped to ¥230.64 million ($1.47 million), a reflection of both declining enrollment and increasing political scrutiny. Korean schools operated by Chosen Soren are officially categorized as "miscellaneous schools" rather than regular educational institutions under Japanese law. Therefore, they are excluded from the national tuition waiver program. Local governments remain divided. In 2010, then-Governor Shintaro Ishihara froze subsidies in Tokyo, citing anti-Japanese education and suspected ties to the abductions. Osaka followed suit the same year after then-Governor Toru Hashimoto demanded that the Osaka Korean School Foundation prove it had severed ties with Chosen Soren. Receiving no response, the city halted its ¥87 million ($554,140) subsidy and has not resumed funding. In contrast, Hyogo Prefecture continues to provide over ¥40 million ($254,780) annually. Governor Motohiko Saito defended the policy on the grounds that "children's education should be treated separately." Chosen Soren's symbolic decline was made even more apparent in January 2025 when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to send his customary New Year's message to Chosen Soren chairman Ho Jong-man. The annual letter traditionally served as a directive from Pyongyang and a reaffirmation of Chosen Soren's place within the North Korean sphere. Its absence has caused confusion and unrest within the organization, especially as it marks its 70th anniversary. Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea of North Korea. May 9, at the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang (Korean Central News Agency via Kyodo News) Further signs of estrangement have appeared. Chosen Soren officials were reportedly disinvited from the Pyongyang International Marathon in April. As well, planned visits to North Korea were canceled. Kim did send a brief letter on May 25, encouraging overseas Koreans in Japan to visit the homeland. Insiders, however, say it lacked the political weight of the usual New Year's message and appeared aimed more at pacifying discontent than affirming ties. The rift appears to center on North Korea's abandonment of its reunification policy. In a 2024 speech to the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim declared South Korea "our principal and absolute enemy," effectively ending decades of rhetoric around peaceful unification. Chosen Soren, whose founding purpose included promoting "the independent and peaceful reunification of the homeland," found itself ideologically adrift. In response, Chosen Soren issued internal guidelines banning the use of phrases like "independent reunification" and "one people" in schools and materials. That served to further deepen member disillusionment. Educators reported no official instructions on textbook revisions from Pyongyang, leaving many confused about how to proceed. Despite these tensions, a Chosen Soren delegation led by Jeong Seong-han, head of the Hokkaido chapter, is currently visiting Pyongyang. North Korean media reported that the group paid homage at statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and visited the alleged birthplace of Kim Il Sung. In Japan, the organization has launched a 70-day campaign of commemorative events, including rallies, performances, and lectures. The celebration culminated in an art performance in Tokyo's Kita Ward on May 27. Still, these gestures do little to dispel the growing sense that Chosen Soren is being quietly sidelined by the very regime it has long served. Tsutomu Nishioka, chairman of the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea and a professor at Reitaku University, stated it well. "If Chosen Soren continues to praise the oppressive Kim regime, there is no path forward," he said. "Its only chance of survival is to adapt to Japanese society and begin speaking critically, and truthfully, on behalf of North Korean people." (Read a related article in Japanese .) Author: The Sankei Shimbun
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.
