I believe I am Japanese. Maybe everyone agrees with me. But
is it really true? What are the Japanese? According to Japan's
nationality law, the Japanese are people who have Japanese
nationality. Nationality is given when a person is naturalized or
born from Japanese parents. The law defines people who are not
Japanese as foreigners (Fukuoka p.2-3). So many people think that
Japan is a unified country, though there are some groups which
consist of neither of Japanese nor foreigners. Korean residents
in Japan are a typical example, because one of my friends who is
a Korean resident once told me that he didn't have the right to
vote, not only in Korea but also in Japan. We can find that there
is a barrier between Korean residents and Japanese. Therefore
many people are arguing about this barrier.
Ken Hasegawa's letter, whose topic is also Korean residents in
Japan, was published in the Mainichi Daily News on June
15th, 1994. He says in his letter to the editor, "Japan should
declare all people born in Japan Japanese citizens."
For many years he thought that Korean residents in Japan were
discriminated against. But now Hasegawa has come to think that
his understanding was not completely right. The change of his
opinion was caused by recent experiences. Some time ago Korean
residents, whom he calls "pro-Pyongyang shock troops," rallied in
Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya to demand peaceful human rights, but few
pictures were taken of the action. He thinks the reason was,
"Many major news media in Japan are afraid of Chongryun and keep
silent about the human rights violations committed by
pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan."
From his letter, Hasegawa seems to believe that Japanese are
too passive to argue against Koreans because of mistakes in the
past. On the other hand, he says Chongryun or the General
Association of Korean Residents in Japan, created in 1955 by
secret agents from North Korea for the purpose of swallowing up
South Korea, is misinforming the public. For instance, many
people believe that the origins of the Korean residents in Japan
were Koreans who were forcibly brought in from the Korean
Peninsula by Japanese for war purposes. But that is not true.
The fact is that most of them are economic immigrants and
their descendants (Wakatsuki 132). Hasegawa says the Korean
Central News Agency (KCNA) and Chongryun are misinforming
people in order to keep Japanese in silence. From his point of
view, he also refers to the suspicion of remittance from Japan to
North Korea and the property of the ethnic schools because they
haven't tried to promote the relationship between the two
nations. He blames the passivity of Japanese indirectly and
impudence of Koreans clearly.
And Hasegawa pays attention to the exodus of Chongryun Koreans
who praise North Korea. Around 1960 a large number of the Korean
residents in Japan moved to North Korea, but now they don't
migrate there any more: they longed for their native country and
wanted to return, but in reality it was harder for them to live
there than in Japan. Chongryun heard the information and decided
to stop migrating (Fukuoka 31-36). So it is certain that almost
all the Korean residents in Japan are going to settle down for
generations.
In the letter Hasegawa says, "Second-, third-, fourth-, and
maybe fifth-generation Koreans in Japan?! Ridiculous!" Then he
suggests Japan's nationality law should be revised to give
Japanese citizenship to all people born in Japan. However, I
cannot agree with his opinion entirely. His suggestion is against
the human rights of minorities.
On some points I follow him. I also found that people
misunderstand so many things about Korean residents. For example,
the letter discusses the American fears of 'North Korean in
Japan' or 'North Koreans communities in Japan.' This is not
accurate. More than 90 percent of Koreans in Japan come from the
Southern part of the Korean Peninsula." Not only Americans but
also Japanese seem not to know that fact. As Hasegawa asserts, we
are so passive that we don't try to seek the truth about them.
And I can say that such ignorance has caused many problems
between the two groups of people.
On another point, I guess Hasegawa's prediction that the
Korean residents will settle down in Japan is right. For
pro-Pyongyang Korean residents, North Korea can be a paradise in
their mind. But the paradise is too strict to live in
comfortably. Now they become aware that it is better to live in
Japan for economic reasons. So for a few decades they are going
to live in this small island country longing for North Korea. In
the future there may be tenth-generation Koreans. I think such a
situation is surely "ridiculous" rather than complicated
Considering these matters, Hasegawa's suggestion that we
should revise the law to regard everyone born in Japan as a
Japanese citizen seems to be very reasonable. If the revision is
made, the conflict between these two nations may eventually
disappear, and the situation may be uncomplicated for Japanese
people. However, still I insist: his suggestion is not good,
because it involves a danger of violating Korean's human
rights.
As he says, now the Korean residents have stopped migrating to
North Korea. But it is not because they want to live in Japan
willingly, but because they have to live here for some necessary
reasons. So they may want to be Koreans, not Japanese. I Kyong
Je, who is director of an ethnic educational circle called Mukuge
no Kai, says, "We have insisted that the Japanese Government
should revise the law which forces foreigners to register
fingerprints. And if it is said that such problems of human
rights are based on the restriction of nationality, I want the
nationality. But, because of pride, I get angry if I have to get
Japanese nationality bowing down to the government. On the other
hand, I also get mad when we are forced to take the nationality"
(Fukuoka 29). Therefore when the revision of Japan's nationality
law is carried, the Korean residents in Japan must feet that
their racial traits are oppressed. There is no one who can
distort other's ethos. I dare say Hasegawa's opinion is
ethnocentrism.
Nor can I agree with his general standpoint. He talks with
prejudice. For instance the letter says, "About the ethnic
schools run by Chongryun, their purpose is to instill in pupils
the worship of Kim Il Sung, the war criminal. They've done
nothing to promote the Korean language or culture among their
Japanese neighbors."
Admitting that his argument is almost right and the Korean
residents are closed to Japan, Japanese are also closed to them,
and what is worse, discriminate against them. Recently a girl
attending a Korean ethnic school was attacked, and her school
uniform was cut by a Japanese youth. The matter shocked many
people because it clearly showed that discrimination against
Koreans surely exists now in Japan. And for another example, we
do not call them "Korean Japanese" but "Korean residents in
Japan." Originally, "resident" means who lives in one nation for
some period. So the situation that Japanese still call them
"Korean residents" may be an implication of discrimination.
Through these examples, Hasegawa's point of view is too
convenient for Japanese.
"Japan's nationality law must be revised. Japan should declare
all people born in Japan as Japanese citizens."
Here, I rewrite Hasegawa's suggestion: "Japan's nationality
law must be revised. Japan should give all foreigners born in
Japan rights to choose their nationality." Japan needs to adopt a
system allowing descendants of the Korean residents in Japan to
be Japanese citizens without formalities of naturalization,
otherwise the conditions in the future will be so complicated.
But we should never force them to be Japanese. We have to seek
the way of coexistence, not the way of assimilation. The most
necessary and important thing is that we recognize the difference
between these two nations, while we are aware that now we must be
able to live together.
I hope that discrimination I have discussed above will soon
disappear, and that it will become natural to say not "the Korean
residents in Japan" but simply the "Korean Japanese."
by Makiko Gotoh
Works Cited
Hasegawa, Ken. "On Chongryun." The Mainichi Daily
Newspaper. Tokyo: June 15th, 1994.
Fukuoka, Yasmori. Korean Residents in Japan. Tokyo:
Chuo-kouronsya, 1993, pp2-36.
Wakatsuki, Yasuo. South Korea, North Korea and
Japanese. Tokyo: Harasyobou, 1989, pp 123-132.
