Koreans in Japan call for international support:
Stop discriminating against Korean schools!
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Weekly protest outside
Japan's Ministry of Education |
Last month, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city
government of Saitama, located just outside of Tokyo, gave 180,000
masks to pre-schools and elder care facilities to protect students,
residents, and workers from the virus. All pre-schools received masks
with only one exception: Korean schools.
After a successful organizing campaign, the Saitama government was
forced reverse its decision and gave masks to Korean pre-schools.
Koreans in Japan are forced to constantly struggle against
discriminatory acts like this, which are either initiated by or
implicitly endorsed by the state.
The situation has been exacerbated under the rule of right-wing
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Historically, all pre-schools have been
tuition free in Japan. In May 2019, the Shinzo government passed
legislation making pre-school and daycare free. When it went into
effect in October, however, Korean schools were excluded.
In 2010, the Japanese government’s tuition waiver program made all
schools for foreign nationals living in Japan either free or highly
subsidized. Again, the only exclusion is for Korean schools. There are
around 800,000 Koreans living in Japan that are classified as “foreign
nationals.” Although they pay taxes in Japan and have lived in the
country for decades, many have citizenship with the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea).
While all Koreans face discrimination in Japan, those with DPRK
citizenship are especially oppressed. Protesters regularly gather
outside of the schools, shouting racist slogans and even assaulting
students and throwing rocks and other objects at the school buildings.
The Korean community has to constantly struggle to have the police
intervene, and it is rare that they arrest the assailants.
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Elementary school class in a Korean
school |
The Japanese government claims that it excludes Korean schools
because it can’t verify the curriculum. However, the government
doesn’t verify the curriculum of other schools for foreign nationals,
like American schools. Colonial racism is the real reason that the
government excludes the schools from programs such as these.
Most Koreans first came to the country as a result of Japan’s
brutal colonization of Korea in the early 20th century. Others came as
forced laborers during World War II. Just as Japan tried to wipe out
Korean culture in Korea, they continue to attempt to destroy it in
Japan. By depriving Korean schools of funding, they hope to eliminate
the preservation and growth of Korean language, dance, music, history,
and politics.
Koreans in Japan are asking for international support in their
struggle to end the government’s discrimination against Korean
schools. Please sign and share this petition, which will go to Japan’s
Ministry of Education in June and then to the United Nations General
Assembly in September.
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