Revolution Is Brewing at N. Korean Schools in Japan

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, October 10, 2003; Page A01

TOKYO #-- As the morning bell tolls at First Chosen Grammar School on the outskirts of this sprawling capital, students rush to class under a mural urging them to cram for the glory of North Korea. At recess they march to blaring North Korean hymns. Their history lessons extol the virtues of Kim Il Sung #-- the North Korean "Great Leader" who, they are taught, won the Korean War in 1953.

For decades this has been the drill at First Chosen, one of about 130 schools across Japan partly funded by the North Korean government. The students are sons and daughters of ethnic Koreans living in Japan as North Korean citizens, about 150,000 in total. Almost all are descendants of laborers brought here by force or lured by the promise of a better life during Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Generations of these ethnic Koreans have pledged allegiance to the North's Communist government, their cash remittances back home a critical source of hard currency for the isolated nation.

But a revolution is brewing at First Chosen and the other North Korean schools in Japan.

Read the rest of the article here:

Revolution Is Brewing at N. Korean Schools in Japan

This article was also posted on Freenorthkorea.net

and MSNBC:

Changes in Japan’s N. Korea schools

This is awesome news :) Since the Chosen Soren are a major source of revenue for N. Korea (via 1/3 of all pachinkos in Japan which the Chosen Soren own), it means they're no longer supporting the N. Korean regime (politically, or financially). Maybe this is why N. Korea's been caught with drug trafficking: They're getting desperate for money. Ultimately, I think all this means that N. Korea will open up sooner than we think.

Wow, that's a fascinating article. A few observations:
1. I think the eroding support of ethnic Koreans in Japan for North Korea can be evidence of an overall deteriorating support base for the NK regime.
2. On the other hand, it's interesting that the NK gov has had such a strong foothold in the ethnic Korean society in Japan for so many years. I think there is a strong appeal to the Juche idealogy and the NK "anti-imperialist" slogans. The Koreans in Japan have been living in a free society, yet they chose to support and follow the Juche idealogy. That's interesting to me. I think there is a large part that people in NK are forced into following the NK regime, but there is some ideological "appeal" to Juche. Even after NK collapses, I can see people have a hard time letting go of their past ideology.

I think the issue with NKs following North Korean ideology might have something to do with a sort of nationalism among Koreans in Japan, since they don't have Japanese citizenship. But it seems the younger generation of Koreans in Japan almost don't care about N. Korea as the number of Chosen Soren members dropped over the years. Here's a page that provides some info on these Koreans.

Anyway, with the younger generation probably assimilating into Japanese society, I get the feeling it won't be difficult for them to let go of Juche, the Washington Post article seems to heavily suggest it. But I guess for the older generation, it'll certainly be difficult for those who still worship Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. Then again, I imagine it must be really hard for N. Koreans after the N. Korean regime falls: They'll discover how they've been lied to all their lives!

Maybe this'll actually help N. Koreans embrace the gospel....just as many Christians realize they've been 'lied to' by the 'false teachings of this world'. Anyway, I'll stop there :)

Yeah, I can see how nationalism can play a big part. I just find it fascinating that people in a free society would, on their own free will, buy into the NK ideology and follow the regime.