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High court denies Korean school's right to Japan gov't subsidies

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Good.

Why should any country subsidize a school and curriculum that is pro-North Korean, a nation that indoctrinates its citizens in anti-Japanesw hatred. Don't believe all these touchy feely YouTube propaganda videos showing a kinder, gentler pro-Pyongyang school in Japan.

Samit?

9 ( +19 / -10 )

Why should any child, in any country be penalized for receiving education?

The schools are in Japan not North Korea!

Where is the evidence that children are being taught any differently from their Japanese peers?

Aren't the parents living in Japan and paying Japanese taxes too?

It is a discriminatory ruling!

-11 ( +12 / -23 )

These fifth columns should be given 2 options. Either to fully assimilate themselves, or pack-up and scram back to their North Korean motherland. Japan too should had forcefully expelled these commies after the end of WW2.

6 ( +16 / -10 )

Why should any child, in any country be penalized for receiving education? The schools are in Japan not North Korea! Where is the evidence that children are being taught any differently from their Japanese peers?

Right, let's consider your logic here, an enemy of the state has a school, that raises MORE enemies, within your own borders? They even have pictures of Kim in their classrooms!

And you think the Japanese government should subsidize it?

As of 2013, there were 73 North Korean grade schools and ten North Korean high schools in Japan. As of 2014, there were about 150,000 pro-North Korea Zainichi Koreans in Japan, and they form the clientele of the North Korean schools. As of 2013, the North Korea-aligned schools had almost 9,000 ethnic Korean students.

If they want their kids to get a NK education, take them to NK and live there! Education is free!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Dsen_gakk%C5%8D

14 ( +21 / -7 )

Aren't the parents living in Japan and paying Japanese taxes too? It is a discriminatory ruling!

Heck no it isnt! My wife and I have been paying taxes here jointly for what, about 80 years or so, and we received not ONE single yen, nor did their "American" school here, from the Japanese government for their education. From elementary through high school.

Heck NO, they want their cake and eat it too! Parents want to send them there, let them pay for it!

12 ( +20 / -8 )

Pack them n send them home to serve Kim

11 ( +17 / -6 )

Do not only deny the subsidy but shut down any pro Pyongyang school.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

They are more than welcome to free education that has been funded by the state. However, for that, they will have to move to Pyongyang.

5 ( +12 / -7 )

"pro-Pyongyang"? The "Korean" guys I knew when I was in school in the 80s and 90s were born and raised in Tokyo, didn't even speak Korean (which distressed their parents) and had never been there, and have become Japanese citizens (which distressed their parents). It is very easy for them to naturalize. During the war, Japan brought over Koreans as slave labor, and after the war, there was no money to send them back. It was the USA and Russia that divided Korea into north and south, and it was just by chance whether you were a S. Korean Japanese or N. Korean Japanese. The kids parents and grandparents wanting them to "be Korean" are the biggest stress in their lives. In my experience, most of the kids didn't care about the whole Korean thing, and just want to get to the game center after school like everyone else (or is that just my generation?)

0 ( +7 / -7 )

Here’s an idea, get Kim Jong Un to foot the bill if he’s so adamant of getting his North Korean students to be educated. How many Japanese kids are there in NK getting any kind of education?

6 ( +11 / -5 )

@baxter

Either to fully assimilate themselves

Assimilation means a defeat, so they refuse to be assimilated.

Even those fleeing Chongryon just get ROK passport instead as ROK provides them with passports in 3 days just for the asking.

Just remember how Son Masayoshi refused Japanese citizenship until he was required to in order to buy Vodafone Japan(aka Softbank Mobile today) as foreigners couldn't own the controlling stake of a telecom in Japan. If it wasn't for the Softbank Mobile, Son Masayoshi would still be a permanent resident of Japan to this day.

Such is the case with Shin family of Lotte empire, all of their male family members refuse Japanese citizenship even if their mothers and wives are Japanese and have deep connections to Japanese political establishment, ie Abe as the prime minister of Japan personally attended third generation Shin heir's wedding in Tokyo.

or pack-up and scram back to their North Korean motherland.

No can do. They hold special permanent residency card that lets them stay in Japan even if they committed murder in Japan. This residency is different from what other foreigners get.

-7 ( +7 / -14 )

No suprises there. As if Japan would fund anything foreign that doesnt directly benefit themselves.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

gokai_wo_manekuToday  08:59 am JST

During the war, Japan brought over Koreans as slave labor, and after the war, there was no money to send them back

Korea was part of the Japanese Empire from 1910 until 1945. During which time Koreans held Japanese citizenship and many emigrated to Japan where the economic conditions were better. There were many "Japanese of Korean background" residing in Japan before WWII.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

@OssanJapan

Koreans held Japanese citizenship

So why strip the citizenship even from those willing to hold onto it?

None of European and American colonial powers took away citizenship of subjects residing in their countries after former colonies went independent; ie Indians living in Britain and Moroccans in France retained their respective British and French citizenships after independence of India and Morocco.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

The government in 2013 excluded pro-Pyongyang schools from the program, citing stalled negotiations on addressing the past abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea, among other issues concerning the country.

There is pro-Pyongyang Korean school in Japan. Is there any pro-Seoul Korean school in Japan? How about pro-Beijing or pro-Taiwan Chinese schools or similar ones? Are they being treated the same or differently? China and South Korea both has unsolved issues with Japan, too. Just curious.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

talaraedokko: "How many Japanese kids are there in NK getting any kind of education?"

Including the ones who were kidnapped and disappeared in the past.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

"None of European and American colonial powers took away citizenship of subjects residing in their countries after former colonies went independent; ie Indians living in Britain and Moroccans in France retained their respective British and French citizenships after independence of India and Morocco."

Really?!

"Windrush and the hostile environment: all you need to know"

"https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/news/windrush-and-the-hostile-environment-all-you-need-to-know?/news/windrush-and-the-hostile-environment-all-you-need-to-know?utm_campaign=windrush-article&utm_source=fftmisc&utm_medium=paid+social&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4ZDr69rd7AIVibHtCh3phwePEAAYASAAEgJL2_D_BwE"

Read and learn.

Hopefully.

Good job Japan.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Samit Basu

Another example is the way UK law provided citizens of post-independence Ireland the option of remaining British subjects by virtue of being Irish. Japan could have done something similar were it not for its inflexible approach to dual citizenship.

Irish British subjects are a living reminder of the inter-linked history between the UK and Ireland. To have a nationality of one country dependent upon the possession of the nationality of another country is unusual. That such provision was made reflects the complex untangling of Ireland’s connection with the UK and its struggle for independence. Even at the moment when Ireland ceased to fall within the King’s dominions for the purposes of British nationality law, provision was made for Irish citizens to retain British nationality. The provision so made was not of a second-class form of British nationality but of a class of nationality whose holders will, generally, also possess the right of abode in the UK. Irish British subjects with the right of abode in the UK are indistinguishable from British citizens as regards their ability to enter the UK on production of a UK passport and to live and work in the UK thereafter, as regards their status as UK nationals who qualify as EU citizens, and as regards their ability to seek UK consular and diplomatic protection in third countries. That such persons hold a class of British nationality destined slowly to die out is a reflection of the changed political relationship between the UK and Ireland occasioned by the latter’s successful establishment as an independent state

https://www.statelessness.eu/blog/irish-british-subjects-living-reminder-inter-linked-history-between-uk-and-ireland

6 ( +8 / -2 )

NO NO NO NO!!! They will take the money and send it to Kim to make rockets to target Japan!

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Well It is a hard choice the school makes to be pro-Pyongyang

A 2014 UN inquiry into abuses of human rights in North Korea concluded that, "the gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world

If they want any kind of support they need to sever any association with the DPRK / Chongryon If not then Japanese Government should not offer them any support in anyway.

I do not believe the opinion is political or discriminatory in any way. The DPRK are criminals and should not be supported by anybody under any situation except in support of human rights.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

How about reading some history, folks, to understand why ethnic Koreans are here.

Yeah, and they all had the opportunity to go back, and the opportunity to take Japanese citizenship if they stayed. Many DID take citizenship, and many others did not.

For many, their "country" ceased to exist when NK became what it is today, and they didnt want to return, because things were better here for them.

They could go back, but choose not too, and yet they still want Japan to subsidize their choices.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

There shouldn't be a subsidy for any private school tuition. And, public high school should be free. There. Problem solved.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Well done, High Court, well done.

If they want gov't funding, swear 100% allegiance to Japanese government. NOT a Communist dictatorship, which is the ENEMY of Japan.

This is further discrimination against a minority in Japan. Shameful.

Nope. All of these people have been in Japan for at least 3-4 generations. They should become Japanese and enjoy the priveleges that comes with it. Its not difficult.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

What a shameful and discriminatory decision again. Those so-called "pro-Pyongyang" schools have nothing to do with schools in North Korea. They mainly use Japanese textbooks. The only aspect which is different from "pro-Seoul" schools is that they put more focus on the Korean language. The pictures of the Kims are a thing from the past. Most of the schools removed the pictures and, by the way, create very intelligent and open individuals.

Chongryon also has a very strained relationship to the NK leadership already for decades, and equally tense is the relationship between Chongryon and each school which consist of teachers who were born and raised in Japan in the 3rd generation or so. They have like zero relations to NK ideology.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Sadly, ever since Japan came into being, there surely must have been tens, if not thousands of distinguishable foreignors and haafus ( children of mixed parents) who have passed through the Japanese education system. Please, if anyone could mention one distinguishable foreignor or haafu who is a public figure and who passed through its schooling system ? Maybe there's one in the recent past, but I've heard of none. If the NKs, or any country then decided to keep their own system, Japan shouldn't feel affronted, there simply, has been no incentive for foreignors to stick to Js education system as there are no role models of successful foreignors who've gone through it.

Personally, after all these years without a prominent distinguishable foreigner in public service, is a pointer that, the education system in Japan is, thouroughly biased, deficient for people other than Japanese or has some social-engineering practiced at some point. If NK, Americans, Vanuatuans even Martians - residents of Japan, feel the need to have their independent education system, let them! And it should be separated from inter-states politics. May be if the N.Koreans were having equal opportunities in Jn, they'd have a reason to assimilate?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

During Japan's colonization of Asia, the subjects were made Japanese citizens, including the Koreans living in Japan. It was McArthur we "relieved" them of there Japanese citizenship, so now they are stateless until they accept Japanese citizenship, which more and more are doing. And it is very easy for them.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Korea was part of the Japanese Empire from 1910 until 1945. During which time Koreans held Japanese citizenship and many emigrated to Japan where the economic conditions were better. There were many "Japanese of Korean background" residing in Japan before WWII.

Being colonized would also essentially mean " absent of free will ", being held captive of by a more powerful entity.

...were many "Japanese of Korean background" residing in Japan before WWII.

As there were many Japanese in Hawaii, Various countries in S. America, Phillipines, China, the US etc . Countries which were economically superior to Japan.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

and they all had the opportunity to go back, and the opportunity to take Japanese citizenship if they stayed

But taking Japanese citizenship required taking a Japanese name, which some may have found unacceptable.

(I'm not sure of the current situation regarding names. Does anyone know?)

0 ( +1 / -1 )

But taking Japanese citizenship required taking a Japanese name, which some may have found unacceptable. 

(I'm not sure of the current situation regarding names. Does anyone know?

Still the case, but it’s not a Japanese name, rather a name written in Japanese; kanji, hiragana and/or katakana.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

More than 30 years ago, Korea was part of the Japanese Empire. Koreans retained Japanese citizenship during that time, and many emigrated to Japan where the economic conditions were stronger. Before WWII, many "Japanese of Korean origin" were living in Japan.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Still the case, but it’s not a Japanese name, rather a name written in Japanese; kanji, hiragana and/or katakana.

Thanks, Strangerland. That sounds like a change took place at some point, but I'm not entirely sure. A long time ago, my daughter acquired a new koseki with her name in katakana. She had previously been on her mum's koseki with a Japanese name. A Korean friend (special permanent resident) joked that he wouldn't be able to do the same thing and would have to adopt a Japanese name if he acquired citizenship - a difference in the procedure for a name change based on marriage/kinship and one on changing nationality.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I think that was a misunderstanding. You don't need to pick a name like Naoki Takahashi. The way it was explained to me (by immigration), I could simply make my name into katakana - like changing John Smith to ジョンスミス.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@yoshisan88

Is there any pro-Seoul Korean school in Japan?

Yes, there are four of them. They are considered "regular" schools in both Japan and in Korea, so they get dual subsidy from both countries and their graduates can apply to either Japanese or Korean universities. Many Japanese student intentionally attend them because they offer excellent English language courses unavailable on most Japanese schools(ie intensive English instruction by native speakers), as their academic curium is far more rigorous that Japan's schools and these schools by designs are intended to educate leaders within Japanese society who are fluent in English, and Japanese students want to take advantage of this opportunity.

This is not the case with Chongryon schools, they are classified as "irregular" schools and their graduates are not considered highschool graduates, hence they must take high school equivalency exam or apply to Chongryon universities.

How about pro-Beijing or pro-Taiwan Chinese schools or similar ones?

There are no pro-Chinese schools, as most ethnic Chinese hold Taiwanese citizenships, not Chinese citizenship. And yes, there are Pro-Taiwanese schools that are also classified as regular schools in a situation similar to Pro-ROK schools.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Koreans living in Japan held Japanese citizenship until 1945. It was the Allied victors who, in "liberating Korea" from Japan caused them to lose that Japanese citizenship. Japan had nothing to do with it. Many remained in Japan as Japanese Residents.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

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