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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
Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Kim Jong-un kneels at grave of mentor who called him ‘Jong Unny'
One of the perks of being the hereditary dictator of the world's most repressive state is that you do not have to kneel before anyone. But for the third year in a row, North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, has bent his knee in honour of a man almost unknown to the rest of the world, who knew him by the nickname 'Jong Unny'. Photographs in state media showed Kim laying a flower at the at the grave of Hyon Chol-hae, a senior military officer who died in 2022 at the age of 87, in a gesture that offers intriguing insights into Kim's personality and leadership style. Hyon served under Kim's grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il. As a mentor to the current
The Independent
26-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
A small group of tourists has been allowed into North Korea for the first time in years
A small group of international tourists has made a five-day visit to North Korea, marking a significant step towards the reclusive dictatorship 's potential reopening to tourism after a five-year hiatus. While a group of Russian tourists visited last year, this trip signifies a broader move to welcome back international visitors. The tour, organised by Beijing-based Koryo Tours, took 13 tourists to the North Korean border city of Rason, home to a special economic zone. The group, hailing from various countries including the UK, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Australia and Italy, entered North Korea by land from China. During their trip, the tourists were limited to a curated itinerary, visiting factories, shops, schools, and paying respects at the statues of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. 'Since January of 2020, the country has been closed to all international tourists, and we are glad to have finally found an opening in the Rason area, in the far north of North Korea,' Koryo Tours General Manager Simon Cockerell said. 'Our first tour has been and gone, and now more tourists on both group and private visits are going in, arranging trips,' he added. After the pandemic began, North Korea quickly banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic in one of the world's most draconian COVID-19 restrictions. But since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing curbs and reopening its borders. In February 2024, North Korea accepted about 100 Russian tourists, the first foreign nationals to visit the country for sightseeing. That surprised many observers, who thought the first post-pandemic tourists would come from China, North Korea's biggest trading partner and major ally. A total of about 880 Russian tourists visited North Korea throughout 2024, South Korea's Unification Ministry said, citing official Russian data. Chinese group tours to North Korea remain stalled. This signals how much North Korea and Russia have moved closer to each other as the North has supplied weapons and troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Ties between North Korea and China cooled as China showed its reluctance to join a three-way, anti-U.S. alliance with North Korea and Russia, experts say. Before the pandemic, tourism was an easy, legitimate source for foreign currency for North Korea, one of the world's most sanctioned countries because of its nuclear program. North Korea is expected to open a massive tourism site on the east coast in June. In January when President Donald Trump boasted about his ties with Kim Jong Un, he said that "I think he has tremendous condo capabilities. He's got a lot of shoreline.' That likely refers to the eastern coast site. A return of Chinese tourists would be key to making North Korea's tourism industry lucrative because they represented more than 90% of total international tourists before the pandemic, said Lee Sangkeun, an expert at the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank run by South Korea's intelligence agency. He said that in the past, up to 300,000 Chinese tourists visited North Korea annually. 'North Korea has been heavily investing on tourism sites, but there have been not much domestic demand,' Lee said. 'We can assess that North Korea now wants to resume international tourism to bring in many tourists from abroad.' The restrictions that North Korea has typically imposed on foreign travelers — such as requirements that they move with local guides and the banning of photography at sensitive places — will likely hurt its efforts to develop tourism. Lee said that Rason, the eastern coast site and Pyongyang would be the places where North Korea feels it can easily monitor and control foreign tourists.
Express Tribune
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
South Korean hit film 'JSA' turns 25
The film is set in one of the most heavily fortified areas on the planet. Photo: File Twenty-five years ago, director Park Chan-wook risked jail to make a film about friendship between North and South Korean soldiers, striking box office gold and beginning his actors' ascent to global stardom. Relations between the two Koreas have since plunged, with Pyongyang renouncing its long-held goal of unification and last week destroying a venue that traditionally hosted reunions of families separated by decades of divisions. Park said his smash hit Joint Security Area still strikes a chord a quarter of a century later. "It is a sad reality that this movie's themes still resonate with the younger generation," he told reporters in Seoul this month. "I hope that by the 50th anniversary, we will be able to discuss it as just a story from the past." The film is widely regarded as a masterpiece of South Korean cinema and its cast members have gone on to wider success, including Squid Game actor Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho from Oscar-winning Parasite. But when he set out to make it, Park – best known today for action thriller Oldboy and mystery romance Decision to Leave – was far from a prominent director. His first two feature films flopped. Desperate for success, Park delved into one of the most sensitive topics: the decades-long division of the Korean peninsula. At the time, Park feared that his tale of inter-Korean bonding could fall foul of laws banning the "glorification" of the communist-run North. "We prepared ourselves" for the prospect of being jailed, he told reporters. Smash hit But history was on his side. Three months before the film's September 2000 release, then-South Korean president Kim Dae-jung held a historic summit with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang. Against the backdrop of that reconciliation, Joint Security Area swept almost all domestic film awards that year. It was also nominated for best film at the Berlin Film Festival and became South Korea's highest-grossing movie up to then. Actor Lee, now one of South Korea's biggest stars, said he was so thrilled by its success that he watched it 40 times in the cinemas to see the audience reactions. Local media even reported that Kim Jong Il – a known film buff – had seen it. The film is set in the eponymous Joint Security Area, located inside the Demilitarised Zone, the 250-kilometre (155-mile)-long strip of land that divides the Korean peninsula. It is among the most heavily fortified areas on the planet – and the only place where soldiers from the North and South stand face to face. The tragic film tells the story of secret friendships that form after two North Korean troops assist a South Korean soldier who accidentally steps on a landmine, leading them to bond over South Korean pop music and chocolate desserts. Breaking barriers "Before Joint Security Area, portraying North Korean soldiers in South Korean cinema was somewhat considered taboo," Nam Dong-chul, a film critic and chief programmer at the Busan International Film Festival, told AFP. "This film broke that barrier by depicting ordinary and relatable North Korean soldiers," he said. "At the same time, it was a successful and well-crafted blockbuster, marking a significant advancement in the history of Korean cinema." South Korea has since established itself as a global cultural powerhouse. Some credit Joint Security Area with laying the groundwork. The film was a "driving force behind the creation of films in the Korean cinema industry that combine the director's artistic vision with commercial viability," said Jerry Kyoungboum Ko, head of film business for CJ ENM, the South Korean studio that distributed the movie. The real-life JSA has since been a site of both reconciliation and tragedy. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with then-South Korean president Moon Jae-in there in 2018. The following year, Kim also shook hands with US President Donald Trump across the division line. But it also saw North Korean soldiers open fire during a defection by one of their comrades in 2017. And in 2023, troops were re-armed on both sides of the JSA, breaking an inter-Korean military pact signed during more optimistic times. Park said he is often asked when the film is shown abroad if it was shot at the real-life JSA, also known as Panmunjom. "I would always respond by saying that if we could have filmed at the actual location, this film might not have been necessary at all." afp
Khaleej Times
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
South Korean blockbuster 'JSA' strikes a chord 25 years on
Twenty-five years ago, director Park Chan-wook risked jail to make a movie about friendship between North and South Korean soldiers, striking box-office gold and beginning his actors' ascent to global stardom. Relations between the two Koreas have since plunged, with Pyongyang renouncing its long-held goal of unification and last week destroying a venue that traditionally hosted reunions of families separated by decades of divisions. Park said his smash hit Joint Security Area still strikes a chord a quarter of a century later. "It is a sad reality that this movie's themes still resonate with the younger generation," he told reporters in Seoul this month. "I hope that by the 50th anniversary, we will be able to discuss it as just a story from the past." The film is widely regarded as a masterpiece of South Korean cinema and its cast members have gone on to wider success, including Squid Game actor Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho from Oscar-winning Parasite. But when he set out to make it, Park — best known today for action thriller Oldboy and mystery romance Decision to Leave — was far from a prominent director. His first two feature films flopped. Desperate for success, Park delved into one of the most sensitive topics: the decades-long division of the Korean peninsula. "We prepared ourselves" for the prospect of being jailed, he told reporters. Smash hit But history was on his side. Three months before the film's September 2000 release, then-South Korean president, Kim Dae-jung, held a historic summit with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Il, in Pyongyang. Against the backdrop of that reconciliation, Joint Security Area swept almost all domestic film awards that year. It was also nominated for best film at the Berlin film festival and became South Korea's highest-grossing movie up to then. Actor Lee, now one of South Korea's biggest stars, said he was so thrilled by its success that he watched it 40 times in the cinemas to see the audience reactions. Local media even reported that Kim Jong Il — a known film buff — had seen it. The film is set in the eponymous Joint Security Area, located inside the Demilitarized Zone, the 250-kilometre strip of land that divides the Korean peninsula. It is among the most heavily fortified areas on the planet — and the only place where soldiers from the North and South stand face to face. The tragic film tells the story of secret friendships that form after two North Korean troops assist a South Korean soldier who accidentally steps on a landmine, leading them to bond over South Korean pop music and chocolate desserts. Breaking barriers "Before Joint Security Area, portraying North Korean soldiers in South Korean cinema was somewhat considered taboo," Nam Dong-chul, a film critic and chief programmer at the Busan International Film Festival, told AFP. "This film broke that barrier by depicting ordinary and relatable North Korean soldiers," he said. "At the same time, it was a successful and well-crafted blockbuster, marking a significant advancement in the history of Korean cinema." South Korea has since established itself as a global cultural powerhouse. Some credit Joint Security Area with laying the groundwork. The film was a "driving force behind the creation of films in the Korean cinema industry that combine the director's artistic vision with commercial viability," said Jerry Kyoungboum Ko, head of film business for CJ ENM, the South Korean studio that distributed the movie. Park said he is often asked when the film is shown abroad if it was shot at the real-life JSA, also known as Panmunjom. "I would always respond by saying that if we could have filmed at the actual location, this film might not have been necessary at all."
