JAPAN: Ethnic Koreans Set Up Schools to Preserve Identity

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

OSAKA, Japan, Nov 23 1995 (IPS) - Tucked in the poor side of this bustling industrial port is the Osaka Chosen High School, a symbol of ethnic Koreans’ struggle to keep their identity in a country that prides itself on being homogeneous.

The school has a staff of 55 teachers, dressed in the billowing Korean national costume. The 750 students also wear black uniforms patterned after the Korean dress.

Besides studying Korean language and culture, the students follow a curriculum as rigid as those used in Japanese schools. “The level of mathematics, Japanese and science studies are as high as the best Japanese schools,” says Kim Yun Son, the principal.

One important difference is the teaching of history, a vital part of the school curriculum.

While Japanese history texts skip or treat lightly Japan’s brutal colonisation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, history teachers at the Osaka school carefully explain to their students the disastrous consequences of Japan’s invasion.

This explains the popularity of the Osaka Chosen High School and the hundreds of other Korean schools throughout Japan among members of the country’s largest minority group.

Koreans see these schools, started by North Korea many years ago, as the only means of ensuring their children will not lose sight of their identity.

Kim insists that while the schools teach ‘juche’, the North Korean philosophy of independence, they are not proponents of communist ideology.

“We may receive assistance from the North Korean government but our curriculum does not follow North Korean schools,” he says. “This is more a place for Koreans to learn their native language and be proud of their identity. They are respected here for being Korean.”

Indeed, despite the imposing pictures of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, in the principal’s office, the school’s students seem more involved in challenging the Japanese system than parroting North Korean beliefs.

“I am very happy here,” says 17-year-old student Chong Hei Ju. “When I graduate from the Chosen University I will work for a Korean bank.”

The Japanese Education Ministry refuses to recognise the Korean schools. As a result, graduates of these schools cannot enter Japanese universities, and till recently were even barred from sports competitions with Japanese schools.

Years of lobbying brought a few positive results. Korean schools are now recognised as vocational institutions, entitling them to a little national assistance. Sports competitions have also been allowed since last year.

“But that’s as far as the xenophobic government, which has long taken pride in Japan’s homogenous society, seems willing to go,” said a Korean resident of Osaka.

Kim says the government still refuses to grant them full recognition. “This is one of the more obvious examples of discriminations Koreans face in Japan. We pay full taxes and we have a right to our own schools.”

There are more than 600,000 ethnic Koreans living in Japan, many of them in Osaka. Most are descendants of former forced labourers brought here during World War II by their Japanese colonisers.

Many were born here, but unlike in other countries, Koreans born in Japan are not automatically granted citizenship. Although they pay taxes, they do not have access to benefits that Japanese nationals enjoy.

Unable to get official jobs such as in government offices or as teachers till recently, many of them have learnt to survive underground.

“The only thing the Koreans lack is our own military,” said Kim. “We have our own schools, banks, businesses and even a hospital.”

But being Korean remains a big liability. Many Koreans have taken up Japanese nationality, and even adopted Japanese names to avoid having to deal with daily insults, discrimination at work, and difficulty in finding Japanese spouses.

Koreans particularly resent a law requiring foreign residents to be fingerprinted when they turn 16. “It was a horrifying experience for me,” recalls Kim. “I felt violated and helpless when all my fingers were meticulously painted black by the local government officials.”

Foreign pressure and stiff Korean resistance forced Tokyo to amend the law to make the process a one-time ordeal. Fingerprints are required for identity cards which foreigners must carry at all times. The cards are renewed every five years. Today the fingerprints are photocopied for the renewal.

Japan’s recent drive towards internationalisation has offered new hope to ethnic Koreans.

“I hope the rising awareness of the world around us will help the Japanese and Koreans to have a better relationship with each other,” said Kim Chung Su, a teacher at the Osaka Chosen school. “My children deserve a better future.”

JAPAN: Ethnic Koreans Set Up Schools to Preserve Identity

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

OSAKA, Japan, Nov 23 1995 (IPS) - Tucked in the poor side of this bustling industrial port is the Osaka Chosen High School, a symbol of ethnic Koreans’ struggle to keep their identity in a country that prides itself on being homogeneous.
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