Stateless in Japan; The Chōsen-seki and their quiet perseverance in the face of oppression.
Undertaking a Bachelor of Arts, Geography and Environmental Studies I have focussed on the
exploration of Human Geography; the ways in which we interact with our surroundings, each other
and the dynamic relationships we have with our world - culturally, socially and psychologically.
Having a relationship spanning fifteen centuries, the relationship between the Korean Peninsula and
Japan is one of tragedy, complexity and a multitude of challenges. From colonisation, annexationi,
the mass movement of Koreans to support the war in both soldiers and comfort womenii, to cultural
oppression and statelessness, Japan has a history of exceptionally cruelty toward Koreans. Following
Japan’s defeat in 1945, some 1.4 million Koreans repatriated to Korea following their initial
displacement to Japan; the 600,000 remaining soon to be made stateless and controlled by what
little superiority Japan could wieldiii.
Koreans in Japan were forced to choose sides in a war that divided their country, a country that
many had never set foot iniv. This led to two countering support organisations in Japan; Mindan, the
Korean Residents Union in Japan, consisting of about 65% of Koreans living in Japan; and Chongryon,
the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, about 25% of the remaining Korean residents
in the country. The former has ties with South Korea, while the latter has ties with the Northv.
Koreans in Japan face a variety of challenges and oppression. Covering all Five Faces of Oppression
as described by Iris Marion Youngvi; Marginalisation, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, racism,
exploitation, and violence. Alongside this lies an incendiary unexpected addition; the Chongryon,
backed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) actively influences and shapes the lives
of some 30,000 – 70,000 Chōsen-seki (Korean Domicile)vii. While this number is falling year after year
as the youth are not so easily led, Japan harbours a deep anti-Korean sentiment. In May 2022 a 22year-old man started a fire that destroyed 7 buildings in Kyoto in an ethnic Korean community, he
stated that he had intended to ‘intimidate and force out’ Korean residents feeling that they were an
‘unacceptable presence’ in Japan, information he had read onlineviii. Following the assassination of
Shinzo Abe, students at Tokyo Korean School were told to avoid unnecessary outings, while students
attending ethnic Korean schools in Japan arrive to school in Japanese school uniforms before
changing into traditional Korean garb, in order to prevent threats of harassment and violence.
While positive sentiments around the DPRK within the Chōsen-seki have ebbed in more recent
times, the community is expected to assimilate to Japanese ways, culture and community in a
country that actively penalises them based on familial lineage. The support of the DPRK in these
communities across Japan has created a cultural and ideological border within the country, actively
ostracizing an already excluded community. The Chōsen-seki fiercely but quietly protect their
cultural identity, practicing in their own homes, schools, and businesses. Rhetoric around the
atrocities and human rights violations with the DPRK are oft rebutted with the reality that they
themselves are recognised by the United Nations as being subjected to hate speech, discrimination
and structural exclusion and oppressionix.
The reality is that the DPRK offers protection and safety to a marginalised group of people that
wants to protect identity, culture and community in a country that actively oppresses them. Whilst
looking on a geopolitical scale at the atrocities, controversies, and warmongering of the DPRK, more
often the coming and goings of the little people that make up these cultures is overlooked, ignored
or passed off as fleeting. Consider the influential reality of the DPRK supporting these communities
and to what end they would like to achieve by undertaking this – a community of 70,000 people who
aren’t eligible for pensions cannot infiltrate or damage national security on any great level. Nor can
they mobilise, protest, or negatively impact when they’re surrounded by hatred and discrimination.
The reality is much more subtle and sinister – until Japan can face the realities of war, of their past
actions and the capitalistic nature of their country, shedding their imperialistic identity, they will
seek to control those that they feel superior over. This theme is prevalent through 15 centuries of a
complex relationship, and until such a time that they rid themselves of this perception, the DPRK will
foster these relationships and the Chōsen-seki will oblige.
i
C. I. Eugene Kim, ‘Japanese Rule in Korea (1905-1910): A Case Study’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 106, no. 1 (1962):
53–59.
ii Chunghee Sarah Soh, ‘UNCOVERING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE “‘COMFORT WOMEN’”’, accessed 15 April 2023,
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(98)00036-3.
iii Roy Richard Grinker, ‘Koreans in Japan: Critical Voices from the Margin’, The Journal of Asian Studies 61, no. 1 (February 2002): 280–82.
iv Roger Dingman, ‘The Dagger and the Gift: The Impact of the Korean War on Japan’, The Journal of American-East Asian Relations 2, no. 1
(1993): 29–55.
v ‘General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chosen Soren) - North Korean’, accessed 17 April 2023,
https://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/dprk/chosen_soren.htm.
vi Danielle Allen, ‘Five Faces of Oppression’, in Justice and the Politics of Difference, REV-Revised (Princeton University Press, 1990), 39–65,
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvcm4g4q.7.
vii Ayane Odagawa et al., ‘Typology of Stateless Persons in Japan’ (Japan Law Foundation, n.d.), chromeextension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.unhcr.org/jp/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2018/01/TYPOLOGY-OFSTATELESS-PERSONS-IN-JAPAN_webEnglish.pdf.
viii
‘Man Admits Setting Fire in Ethnic Korean Community | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis’, The Asahi
Shimbun, accessed 17 April 2023, https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14622390.
ix United Nations, ‘International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’ (International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, United Nations, 2014),
https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhskWEDuvHC0lMabuZ0OD1HY0SfxlfB1VeioXttA
zGv30U0Rk%2BkdMAGVYyItJ663GQIU8ZU21%2FekVAPTf2ZAumBFk85L1A40eImOOroiINleYo.