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The present struggle

of Koreans in Japan

Yoon Kyung-hae

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My first language is Japanese, because in home and in school the Japanese system is so effective in controlling and suppressing what does not belong according, to their subjective, superiority, racist standards that do violence to others without any pangs of conscience. So my Korean is a poor second, and my English is no better. Please try to understand the lessons we can learn about human history, about human life and human dignity from the story of Koreans in Japan.

Why are there Koreans in Japan? Why are there Tamils in Sri Lanka? Why are there Chinese in Indonesia, or Japanese in Hawaii? There are lessons to be learned from the past sufferings and the present struggles of Koreans in Japan.

First, consider our historical background, the number of Korean residents in Japan, as of March 1979, was 668,000, over 85% of the total alien population in Japan. In 1905, when Korean foreign affairs came under Japan's formal control, that number was 303. The annexation of Korea int the Japanese empire followed in 1910. Then the forced registration of agricultural lands, and the policy of intensified rice production for Japan, forced many of the Korean farmers off their farmland and they began a rootless existence. The rapid industrialization of Japan demanded the intensive recruitment of "cheap" labor from Korea to Japan to be used in mines, construction works, steel mills, and shipbuilding yards. The number of Koreans in 1917 was just over 10,000 but it increased to 300,000 in 1930, and to 1 million in 1940. When the Second World War ended in 1945, the Koreans in Japan numbered an astonishing 2,400,000 because of the enforced conscription of nearly 1 million into the war industries and even secondary military roles.

The end of the war meant liberation for Koreans from the colonial rule of Japan. Most of the Koreans quickly returned to their motherland, but what awaited them was a tragic division of Korea, and the power struggle of the United States and Soviet Russia over their country. Thus,

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approximately 600,000 Koreans decided to remain in Japan.

Since then, in spite of the repatriation of about 100,000 to North Korea since 1958 and over 100,000 naturalizing as Japanese, the Korean population has grown to its present 680,000 level. The existence of Koreans in Japan thus has a close connection with the history of the Japanese colonial expansion and its defeat, as well as with the post-war history of reconstruction.

From a government survey, the presence of Koreans throughout Japan, and the concentrations of Koreans in urban industrial areas of Tokyo Osaka, Aichi, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures can be clearly realized. The total number of Koreans in these five metropolitan areas stands around 430,000, approximately 65% of the total Korean population in Japan. The reason is that sub-contract jobs are more available to Koreans there. It is also important to note that 85% of the Koreans in Japan are now made up of the second and third generations. Also, please note that due to the division of Korea into two parts, the Korean community in Japan is divided between two main organizations, Chosoren (pro-North) and Mindan (pro-South), each militantly opposed to the other. This is the burden of history, which young Koreans in Japan bear. Many are broken, and cannot stand up to face the abuses, but some Koreans of conscience and commitment, seek a better day, a better way for Koreans and Japanese to live with mutual respect.

Second, look at some of the present issues of Koreans in Japan. From the history suffered, today the Koreans living in Japan face various social, economic and legal restrictions, and discrimination in social attitudes and practices as a whole, as well as in government policies.

For instance, the whole legal status issue is basically representative. The legal status for Koreans is roughly divided into five categories: Treaty permanent residency (under the 1965 Japan-ROK treaty); and general permanent residency; "126-26 clause" residency (that is the post-war registration bracket); and the special residency, and

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designated residency. One family member may have one status, and another member a different status. Koreans are under the same alien registration law as any other non-Japanese, but they are also subject to a possible expulsion under special regulations. Non-status Korean residents who entered Japan illegally some years ago have become a major humanitarian concern, especially with large numbers present in Osaka. Fingerprinting as if criminal suspects, and other control and intimidation methods are aimed mostly at Koreans in the name of "social control" and "national security''.

Another major issue is the economic experience of Koreans in Japan. One aspect of the economic life of Koreans can be seen in business enterprises engaged in by Koreans in Japan. Over half of them are in scrap metalwork, entertainment and restaurant operations, or in chemical works such as vinyl, plastic, rubber production, mostly on a very small scale. The biggest problem of these businesses is the financing, a Korean businessman having to rely on private, high-interest loans.

Another problem we face is the matter of social security. Koreans have been entitled to less than half of the social benefits available to the Japanese, even in the best districts. Of course, we must pay the same taxes as the Japanese. There are no benefits, for example, for Koreans in terms of old age, disability, dependent child, war-dead survivor compensation, and other benefits. In 1979, the Japanese government decided to sign the International Human Rights Charter and is revising the social security law so that non-Japanese residents can receive the same benefits as Japanese nationals. However, we are finding several ways in which the basic discrimination continues.

The outstanding instance of social discrimination is that of housing. The refusal to rent to Koreans is an everyday affair as a Korean searches for a place to live. However, it is worth noting that, under pressure from community groups, the Public Housing Authority has done away with

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the clause excluding Koreans from applying for public housing effective April 1, 1980.

The matter of education is one of the most urgent issues of Koreans in Japan. Most 2nd and 3rd generation Korean children attend Japanese schools and are educated as Japanese, having no opportunity to establish their own identity as Koreans. On top of that, from the social structural and mental discrimination of Japanese, Korean children lose confidence in themselves, and often become self-recriminating and anti-social, delinquent, and' even violent. With a few exceptions, Koreans are at a great disadvantage in terms of education when they do insist on the right to ethnic education, and often a Korean is refused admittance, or charged enormous fees. There is no guarantee of proper ethnic education in Japan made by the government. Almost all of the schools under Korean organizations (over 150 in total) are not recognized by the Ministry of Education for a full accreditation. This means that a graduate of these schools is not entitled to take an entrance examination for higher education in Japanese schools. Also, they are not accepted by most technical schools, or medium and large industries.

Denied of any chances to learn the beauty of their people and culture through ethnic education, teased and attacked by Japanese, there are even cases of young Koreans committing suicide. In one case near Tokyo, the Japanese school still refuses to admit any responsibility for the harsh discrimination among the students, which led to the suicide of a Korean junior high school student.

Thus, you can see that the issue of employment is very serious, in spite of International Human Rights Charter principles and Japanese constitutional ideals. Opportunities for Koreans to find employment in civil service, public organizations, or in private Japanese enterprises are extremely limited. Just about every Korean seeking employment has had an experience of being refused. From the survey of employment patterns only about 150,000, 23%

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of the total Korean labor force, has stable work, and the rest are irregularly employed. It is also noticeable that the construction and other industrial work take up 31%, followed by trades, second-hand and other sales work (20%), clerical work (14%), simple labor (11%), etc. Even when a job is available, an employer usually forces a Korean employee to use a Japanese name, or may even press for naturalization as a condition for employment.

Considering all of this, with what kind of policies aimed at Koreans will the Japanese government handle the Koreans in Japan? In a word, every effort is being made to produce a situation where in the future there will be no Koreans in Japan. On the one hand, we have to submit to naturalization as Japanese. To have several hundred thousand Koreans residing in Japan as foreigners is seen to work against the benefit of Japan in many ways. They prefer to give us Koreans lesser rights before we have gained a grasp of our ethnicity and become rounded persons pressing for rightful ethnic privileges. That is breaking a people down so they will be without any historical ethnic consciousness or resistance. Or, on the other hand, those Koreans displeasing to Japanese law (that is, criminal offenders) or to society (that is, welfare dependents), they would deport from Japan. They encouraged the return of 100,000 Koreans to North Korea since 1958 on "humanitarian" grounds, though none had any family in North Korea. With regard to this situation, what attitude is shown by the Korean government toward Koreans in Japan? The approach until the 1960's was to ignore them and to leave them on their own. In 1965, ' the Korean and Japanese governments made a treaty normalizing relationships. The making of this treaty was the first step of a second Japanese economic invasion into Korea. And with the receiving of economic aid from Japan, the Korean government stated in line with the Japanese viewpoint that the fate of the Koreans in Japan is to be naturalized, and did nothing to guard the many basic rights of Koreans in Japan. More than that, Koreans in Japan have

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been used in many ways for the self-interest of the dictatorial regimes of Korea, North and South. The Korean governments promise little more than fear and rejection to the masses of their fellow countrymen living in Japan; we are under their control and exploited to their ideological purposes.

Among Korean youth in Japan, there are still many who struggle to live with dignity and pride, and try to win social recognition and opportunities for their people. There are a sufficient number of students battling the mentioned problems to initiate a self-governing university student organization. This group, an independent youth movement, and the National Youth Council of the Korean Church have much in common. They are able to carry out special conferences, and coordinate study programs on history, culture, politics, economics, etc. of Korea and Koreans in Japan. This often leads to a rediscovery of themselves in the history of the Korean people, and a commitment to maintain one's integrity as a Korean. From their studies and reflections, they have gained a deep interest in the people's movements of Korea, and have taken the struggles of the people and students as their own. This has led to their independent approach, making them critical of the dictatorships in Korea. They see the division of Korea and many of its difficulties as the result of American and Japanese military-economic systems, and attempt to logically work out a solution. This study and vision, as well as the struggle against oppressive measures of the Japanese government to suppress social, political activities for justice are shared with the Korean people in general. In all of this, they are seeking to find their role with regard to Korea as to strengthen their identity. They should make a significant contribution to clarifying the future goals of Koreans in Japan, and their visions, which are shared with the people they are seeking to serve should be proven to be a sound and reasonable. The future is very crucial for us. In 1990, the treaty guaranteeing basic residence rights for Koreans in Japan runs out. We

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must be prepared and do battle to win our rights to have a reasonable voice in choosing our own future whether as Korean-Japanese or Koreans in Japan.

Let me try to describe some of the responses of Korean Christians in Japan to their situation and to the sufferings of their people. The Korean Church in Japan is a small church, a new faith in a foreign community, bearing this double stigma in Japanese eyes. We have no schools or seminary of our own, and end up learning and doing theology from a Japanese view and expression. Political pressures from Japanese and Korean regimes are an almost daily experience. Only since the late 1960's have we grasped the way in which God is testing and training His people among Koreans in Japan to go outside the walls the world builds in order to share the crosses of life with the people and to bear the cross of reconciliation among a divided, broken people and in an unrepentant society.

The good news we have to share is that of dignity and purpose in human history and society that is willed and worked out by God participating. Identity before God and among many people is whole and good, even in face of dehumanizing naturalization and social alienation. It is a power of life working in the lives of people. We are struggling to live up to the hard calling of reconciliation among our own divided people, and between the Japanese and Korean people. If there is no mutual repentance, there can be no mutual forgiveness. Reconciliation is not submission of one to another, destroying one to bless another, but it demands mutual submission, mutual understanding, mutual respect. We seek the historical meaning of the Koreans' presence in Japan in the midst of the mutual sacrifices of reconciliation.

There is a human liberation there for victims and victimizers, a blessing for the one that is a liberating judgment for the other. We are trying to live the life of pilgrims on a journey, and see God’s rule among all peoples, and among our people, in walking step by step towards His

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goal of full human life for each. In the theology of pilgrim travelers, our greatest comfort and strength is Jesus as friend and companion in whatever sufferings we must bear. I wish to learn more about how we should walk with Him, and with our people, and with your people, enjoying our identities, powers, and purposes more fully. I trust there may be blessings for your people in and through the Koreans in Japan, and that we and our children may be blessed in blessings with the power of justice and freedom of truth.

Let us salute one another, and celebrate together the liberation of life, and seek solidarity in building justice, in serving the people, in making peace and in furthering democracy together. May we find Jesus Christ among the people in their human struggles, and follow his pilgrim way with courage.*

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Taken from praxis Nos. 3-4, 1983.