OT: Chronology for Koreans in Japan ( civil rights )


http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/chronology.asp?groupId=74003


Chronology for Koreans in Japan



Date(s) Item

1945 Following the defeat of Japan, Choren (League of Koreans in
Japan) became a force for the repatriation of Korean-Japanese to the
Korean peninsula. In addition, Choren assisted many needy Koreans in
Japan.

Dec 31, 1946 Osaka authorities ordered the fingerprinting and
identification of all Koreans. Many Koreans waged harsh protests
against it.

1948 Choren split into pro-North and pro-South organizations, the
Choren (Chongnyon or Cho-Chongnyon) supporting North Korea and the
Mindan South Korea. The split generated enduring rivalries between the
two groups (dividing the Korean population in Japan) as tensions
between North and South Korea increased. Pro-North Chongnyon
activities came under increasing suspicion by the Japanese government.
Koreans also were increasingly attacked by the government and the
press. They were accused of spreading disease, creating a black
market, raising the crime rate, not paying taxes, and financially
controlling Japan.

1952 Koreans in Japan were formally designated as aliens. The
pro-North Korean organizations were made illegal, following their
alleged involvement in the May Day riots of 1952, but they were
reformed under various titles and operated clandestinely.

1955 The fingerprinting policy, adopted in 1946, was implemented by
Japanese authorities.

1965 Negotiations between Japan and South Korea resulted in the
signing of a peace treaty. Permanent residence was granted to
nationals of South Korea who had lived in Japan since August 15, 1945
and to descendants born by 1970.

Jan 23, 1990 Increasing diplomatic tension with North Korea led to
sporadic instances of violence against pro-North Koreans by right-wing
Japanese organizations and individuals. Many in the Korean-Japanese
community blamed Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party for the
increased ethnic tension, following its characterization of the North
Korean government as a "dangerous organization."

Apr 6, 1990 South Korean Foreign Minister, Ho Joong Choi announced
that the improvement of the legal status of Korean residents in Japan
would not be a precondition to South Korean President Tae Wou Roh's
trip to Tokyo scheduled in May.

May 9, 1990 North Korea protested the arrest of three Korean residents
of Japan, who were politically involved in the pro-Pyongyang General
Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongnyon). Young Rae Chun,
head of the Tokyo Livelihood Consultation Office of Chongnyon (along
with Chun's wife and sister), were arrested by Japanese authorities
for allegedly violating Japan's alien registration statutes. In
addition, Japanese authorities searched Chongnyon's Shinjuku office
and an associated Korean school.

May 18, 1990 The Japanese government announced the abolition of
fingerprinting practices and the granting of permanent resident status
to third generation Korean residents of Japan. The new rules applied
only to the offspring of Korean residents born after January 17, 1971.

May 25, 1990 South Korean Justice Minister, Jong Nam Yi demanded the
improvement of Koreans' legal status in Japan, during a meeting with
Japanese Justice Minister, Shin Hosegawa. Specifically, Minister Yi
suggested: i). the elimination of Japanese regulations pertaining to
first and second generation residents which required them to carry
alien identification cards and submit to fingerprinting; ii) the
revision of Japanese laws allowing for deportation of residents
convicted of criminal charges; and iii) the granting of permanent
residence status to the estimated 50 to 100 thousand illegal Korean
immigrants in Japan.

May 27, 1990 Su-to Ha, former vice chief of organization for
Chongnyon, led a rally in Tokyo of 500 Chongnyon to protest North
Korea's human rights violations. The protestors accused Il-sung Kim of
siphoning money from Japanese Koreans and of holding captive some
93,000 repatriated Koreans. Ha was expelled from Chongnyon in 1972 for
demanding democratic reforms.

Aug 6, 1990 The United Nations Human Rights Committee warned that it
may consider investigating Japan's treatment of its Korean residents,
following the appeal of Chang Hwa Choi, a Protestant priest.

Aug 8, 1990 A delegation of Chongnyon Japanese Koreans, headed by
Man-sul Sohn, arrived in North Korea to participate in a pan
nationalist rally.

Sep 14, 1990 Eleven second-generation Korean residents in Osaka filed
a law suit demanding the right to vote in local elections. This was
the first such suit filed by foreigners for voting rights in Japan.

Nov 30, 1990 Japanese Prime Minister Kaifu said that the
fingerprinting of Korean residents of Japan will continue until a
different means of identification can be developed. The policy was
introduced in 1946 and implemented in 1955.

Dec 4, 1990 The Japanese Airline, JAL, introduced diversity seminars
to its employees, following the publication of the word "Senjin (often
referred to as Cho-Senjin)" (a derogatory Japanese term describing
Koreans) in the JAL's in-flight magazine, "Winds."

Dec 10, 1990 The Japanese Ministry of Justice decided to revise the
Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law to allow North Korean
and Taiwanese residents the same rights and privileges, pertaining to
deportation and reentry, that is currently granted to resident of
South Korean origin.

Jan 11, 1991 Following the conclusion of a two-day visit by Japanese
Prime Minister Kaifu to Seoul, the Japanese government agreed to
abolish the policy of fingerprinting Korean residents. Kaifu promised
that beginning in 1992, Korean identification will include a
photograph, rather than fingerprints.

Mar 8, 1991 The ruling cabinet of Japan submitted a proposal to
exclude Korean and Taiwanese residents from certain immigration
restrictions. Among the exemptions are i) the virtual elimination of
deportation statutes for most crimes except inciting rebellion or
collaborating with a foreign state; and ii) and the expansion from two
years to five years of reentry permits.

May 20, 1991 A central meeting of Chongnyon denounced the South Korean
government as fascist.

Feb 7, 1992 Japan ended the fingerprinting policy for all foreign
residents.

Dec 25, 1992 The Korean Resident Union in Japan (Mindan) published a
brochure demanding greater rights and privileges for Korean residents.
Included in their demands were: i) the right to vote in mayoral,
gubernatorial, and local assembly elections; ii) the introduction of
classes that focus on ethnic education; and iii) right to use Korean
names.

Jun 14, 1993 Major revisions in the textbooks used by Korean schools
in Japan were undertaken. As a result, more information was provided
about Japan's history and geography. Previously, such texts
concentrated exclusively on the history and geography of Korea,
thereby assuming that the Korean residents would eventually return to
Korea.

Aug 3, 1993 Korean youth began a march from Fukuok to Tokyo, in
support of the unification efforts of North and South Korea.

Aug 9, 1993 Korean atomic bomb survivors and a Nagasaki citizen's
organization urged the Japanese government to compensate Korean
victims of Japanese colonial rule and the American atomic explosion
during the Second World War.

Nov 2, 1993 The Japanese National High School Sports Federation agreed
to allow Korean schools to send participants to applicable, nationwide
sporting events. The agreement follows many years of Korean protests
against the exclusion of their schools and students from participating
in national sporting events.

Nov 10, 1993 More than 100 members of Chongnyon rallied to protest
North Korean human rights abuses.

Jan 11, 1994 Hae Ryong Chung, the president of Mindan, was allowed to
attend and address the Japanese Social Democratic Party (SDP)
Convention (the SDP was the largest member of Prime Minister
Hosokawa's ruling coalition) for the first time in the party's
history.

Feb 5, 1994 The first meeting of the newly formed Human rights
Association of Koreans in Japan opened in Tokyo.

Apr 19, 1994 North Korean President, Il-sung Kim sent 104.gm yen in
economic assistance to the National Education of Koreans in Japan.

Apr 21, 1994 Mindan has decided to eliminate the word "Kyoryu," or
"temporary stay," from its title. The symbolic alteration was intended
to suggest that the Korean residents were not necessarily temporary.
Many of Mindan's 450,000 members were born and raised in Japan but are
still regarded as alien residents.

Apr 26, 1994 The national security agency in Tokyo has said Chongnyon
has an estimated membership of 247,000 among the 686,000 Korean
residents of Japan.

Apr 30, 1994 The Osaka Prefectual Meeting of Koreans in Japan
denounced the suppression of members of Chongnyon by Japanese
authorities. More than 3,000 members of Chongnyon and other Korean
residents attended the meeting, which adopted a resolution and elected
delegates to protest against the Osaka Prefectual Police and the
Higashi Police Station.

Jun 1994 The Emperor of Japan's visit to the US is repeatedly
disrupted by protests by Korean-Americans protesting, among other
things, the treatment of ethnic Koreans in Japan.

Jun 8, 1994 The Japan Economic Newswire reports that Japan's Justice
Ministry has started an investigation into discriminatory activities
against Korean residents in Japan. Such incidents have reportedly
increased with the recent focus on North Korea's suspected Nuclear
Arms development. These acts include verbal and physical harassment.

Jul 27, 1994 A group of over 300 people urge the government to take
appropriate steps to halt attacks against female Korean students. The
attacks began in April coinciding with the rising tensions over North
Korea's nuclear program. The female Korean students are particularly
vulnerable targets because they wear traditional Korean garb to
school. A civic group monitoring the attacks reports that 155 such
incidents have occurred to date.

Nov 4, 1994 The Japan Economic Newswire reports that the Osaka
municipal government is forming an advisory panel to discuss ways for
improving life for non-Japanese residents. The 14-person panel will
include 7 non-Japanese. This is the first time that any of Japan's
major municipalities has included non-Japanese on one of its advisory
panels. Osaka has about 106,000 ethnic Korean residents.

Dec 10, 1994 Korean residents of Japan hold a symposium in Kobe,
western Japan, to discuss their human rights problems including a
demand to win voting rights.

Dec 16, 1994 South Korean officials urge Japan to improve its
treatment of its Korean residents.

Jan 2, 1995 The Japan Economic Newswire reports that a Korean resident
of Japan has admitted to working as a Fukok city official for about 20
years under disguise as a Japanese citizen.

Feb 8, 1995 A member of the Diet (Japan's parliament) makes remarks in
the Diet concerning a rumor that Koreans living in Japan committed
arson following the devastating January 17 earthquake. He issues an
apology the next day, after a formal protest is filed by Chongnyun, a
Korean association in Japan.

Mar 24, 1995 The Japanese Economic Newswire reports that Japan will
disperse 2.72 billion Yen to help the resettlement of ethnic Koreans
who were left behind on the Russian far east island of Sakhalin after
Japan's defeat in World War II. This takes place in the context of
Japan's policy to help resettle in Korea the Koreans it left behind on
the island.

Apr 7, 1995 The Japanese Economic Newswire reports that Korean
residents in Osaka are bringing a lawsuit seeking rulings both on
their right to vote in local elections and on the constitutionality of
election laws blocking foreign residents from participating in local
polls.

Aug 8, 1995 The Japanese Economic Newswire reports that Chongnyun
accuses Japan of discriminating against graduates of Korean high
schools in entrance exams to national and public universities.
Graduates of Korean high schools must complete a correspondence
course, attend night school, or pass a qualification test before they
are allowed to take the university entrance examinations.

Oct 11, 1995 A Japanese district court says that the government's
failure to pay pensions to ethnic Koreans wounded while serving in the
Japanese military in World War II may be unconstitutional. However the
court refuses to overthrow the government's policy of refusing to pay
injured ethnic Koreans or the families of those who were killed. Under
Japanese laws, military pensions may only be paid to Japanese nationals.

Nov 21, 1995 Thirty years after signing the treaty, Japan ratifies the
UN convention to eliminate racial discrimination.

Nov 21, 1995 The Justice Ministry decided to allow foreign nationals
to see the original government documents being kept on them, and that
the computerization of these documents should be done by the
government agencies themselves, and not outside contractors, to
prevent the information from being leaked to outside sources. Foreign
nationals, including Koreans, had not previously been able to check
whether their registration status was based on accurate information.
(The Daily Yomiuri 12/2/95)

Dec 15, 1995 A Supreme Court judge ruled that while permanent resident
Koreans did not need to be fingerprinted, fingerprinting other
resident aliens was "appropriate" and "fully reasonable, because the
system was set up as the most reliable one for identifying foreigners
who in contrast to Japanese nationals do not have a family register."
He did state that they should not be forced to be fingerprinted
without reason, but that public welfare could be such a reason. The
Japanese-American clergyman who pressed the case, Ronald Susumu
Fujiyoshi, said he planned to take the case to the U.N. Human Rights
Committee. (Japan Economic Newswire 12/15/95)

Jan 11, 1996 An Osaka human rights group protested the fact that 50 -
60 students were able to see the confidential files of foreign
residents which they were microfilming. The students had not been told
to respect the confidentiality of the information. (Mainichi Daily
News 1/11/96)

Jan 16, 1996 A poll released by the Korean Residents Union in Japan
(Mindan) found that 307 of the 345 members of the Japanese Diet
approved of giving permanent foreign residents the right to vote in
local elections. Of the lawmakers endorsing political participation by
foreign residents, 194, or 56.2%, said they should be granted the
rights to both vote and stand in local elections, while 115, or 33.3%
said they should be given only the voting right. (Japan Economic
Newswire 1/16/96)

Feb 9, 1996 Ronald Susumu Fujiyoshi was sentenced to five days in a
labor camp after refusing to pay a fine for 10,000 yen for refusing to
have his fingerprint taken. (Japan Economic Newswire 2/9/96)

Feb 15, 1996 A Korean residents' association forced a labor and
welfare center for the disabled to retract a job requirement
specifying that job applicants be Japanese. (The Daily Yomiuri
2/15/96)

Feb 27, 1996 The Japan Federation of Bar Associations called for a
change in the National Pension law. Foreigners who were born before
Jan. 1, 1926 and disabled foreigners aged 20 or over as of Jan. 1,
1982 remain unqualified to receive the national pension, which covered
self-employed people and others not covered by employee's pension
funds. Some local governments provide monies to Koreans to make up for
the lack of national pensions, but the effort does not cover all of
Japan. (Japan Economic Newswire 2/27/96)

Mar 22, 1996 Members of the Association to Protect Human Rights of
Korean Residents in Japan claimed that Ricoh Lease Co., a Chuo-ku,
Tokyo-based subsidiary of Ricoh Co., refused to lease a photocopy
machine to a Korean residents group unless they had a Japanese
guarantor, and delivered a letter of protest to the executives of
those companies. The company claimed the guarantor was necessary in
case the group decided to leave Japan. (Mainichi Daily News 3/23/96)

Mar 27, 1996 The Osaka High Court denied Lee Young Hwa, the head of
the Foreign Residents Voting Rights Party (Zainichito), the 4.5
million yen in compensation he sought from the state for what he
claimed was its 'breach of the constitution which guarantees the right
to run in elections as a basic human right. ' (Japan Economic Newswire
3/27/96)

Apr 1996 Kawasaki became the first municipality to set up a panel to
give foreign residents direct access to the government, to request
information or address grievances. (Nikkei Weekly 1/8/96)

Apr 4, 1996 An advisory panel to the Osaka mayor proposed a review of
a city ban on employing foreigners as public servants. The mayor had
earlier stated he hoped to remove the ban, but the Japanese president
seemed reluctant to do so. (Japan Economic Newswire 4/4/96)

Apr 14, 1996 The General Federation of Korean Residents in Japan
(Chongryun) reported at least three cases of violence against Korean
students, spurred by the indictment in Thailand of Yoshimi Tanaka on
charges of counterfeiting US currency. Tanaka was a member of the Red
Army faction who defected to North Korea. Bones in a boy's hand were
broken after he was attacked with a wooden sword, and a Korean girl's
skirt was slit on a train. (The Daily Yomiuri 4/14/96)

Apr 19, 1996 Nearly 100 people, including a large number of Korean
residents in Japan, gathered for a symposium in Osaka to show support
for a declaration drawn up by local non-governmental organizations
(NGOs). The declaration covered a broad range of issues and
grievances, including (1) government recognition that Japan is
comprised of Japanese and non-Japanese citizens and an end to the
discriminatory social structure; (2) abolishment of the re-entry visa
system; (3) a guarantee of legal protection to children of
non-Japanese parents; (4) an end to minority discrimination in hiring,
apartment rentals, and other services; (5) fair treatment for
minorities in the Japanese court system and provision of
foreign-language interpreters, and; (6)measures to protect human
rights violations, including physical violence, committed by
immigration and police officials. (Mainichi Daily News 4/22/96)

Apr 24, 1996 A total of 71,488 people signed a petition, which was
presented to the ministry of Education, protesting Kawasaki City
College of Nursing's refusal to accept applications from two female
students at a Korean high school. (The Daily Yomiuri 5/6/96)

May 13, 1996 Kawasaki City decided to allow its permanent foreign
residents, the overwhelming majority of whom are ethnic Koreans, to
take exams for jobs as municipal employees June 30. Any foreigners
admitted would still be limited only to clerical jobs, and be
prohibited from joining the fire department. (Mainichi Daily News
5/14/96)

May 16, 1996 Tokyo District Court rejected a South Korean nurse's
demand for damages from the Tokyo metropolitan government for not
letting her take an examination to qualify for managerial work. Chong
Hyang Gyun, who worked at a Tokyo health center, argued that the Tokyo
government's refusal to allow her to take the test is
unconstitutional. She demanded 2 million yen in damages and the
court's confirmation that she was qualified to take the exam. The
court ruled that the Constitution did not provide for the rights of
foreign nationals to obtain jobs even indirectly related to national
administration. (Jiji Press 5/16/96)

May 23, 1996 Representatives of the pro-North Korean Osaka Korean High
School presented a letter to Osaka University officials arguing that
since people in foreign countries with more than 12 years of public
schooling are allowed to enter universities, Japanese universities
should do the same for Korean school graduates. Note: the issue of
Korean acceptance to Japanese public universities remains a matter of
some debate throughout this chronology, and petitions are regularly
presented to the education ministry to reform this policy. It will not
be mentioned further in this update unless otherwise noteworthy.
(United Press International 5/23/96)

Jun 3, 1996 In a letter, the Home Affairs Ministry reminded all local
governments it was not appropriate to abolish the nationality
requirement for local government employees. (Japan Economic Newswire
6/3/96)

Jun 26, 1996 The Nagoya High Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by
four Korean residents of Japan seeking the right to vote in local
elections. The plaintiffs claimed it is unconstitutional to refuse
foreign residents the right to vote. Presiding Judge Junko Sasamoto
said giving suffrage to foreign residents is not prohibited by the
Constitution, but argued it is "an affair that concerns the state's
legislation policy." (Japan Economic Newswire 6/26/96)

Jul 7, 1996 The Japanese government released its population statistics
for 1995, showing that The number of registered foreign residents in
Japan totaled a record 1,362,371 people. Koreans remained the largest
group of foreign residents, but their proportion of the foreign
population dropped below 50 percent--at 48.9 percent--for the first
time. (The Daily Yomiuri 7/8/96)

Sep 13, 1996 An Osaka elementary-school principal has resigned as
director of an educational study group following criticism of his
remarks at a group meeting that Korean residents in Japan should take
Japanese citizenship and that making 3rd and 4th generation Korean
children use Korean names was cruel. (Mainichi Daily News 9/13/96)

Sep 29, 1996 The leader of a foreigners' political party formed to
acquire suffrage as permanent foreign residents announced he would run
for the House of Representatives election. Lee Young Hwa, head of the
Osaka-based Foreign Residents' Voting Rights Party (Zainichito) and a
Korean resident in Takatsuki, said he would launch his election
campaign although he believed his candidacy would be denied as he was
not a Japanese national. The petition was rejected on October 8.
(Mainichi Daily News 9/29/96 and Japan Economic Newswire 10/8/96)

Oct 9, 1996 After a visit from Osaka Gov. Knock Yokoyama and Hiroshi
Okazaki, the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture who asked for the repeal
of the Japanese-only restriction on competitors at national events,
Takayuki Anzai, chairman of the Japan Amateur Sports Association,
declared such a repeal would "take time." (Mainichi Daily News 10/11/96)

Oct 28, 1996 In a report, the Tokyo government declared that since
permanent foreign resident nationals pay taxes, they should be allowed
to vote in local elections. According to the pro-Seoul Korean
Residents Union in Japan, 1,274 local assemblies adopted resolutions
calling for local suffrage for permanent foreign residents as of Oct.
14. Note: the issue of suffrage in local elections continues to be the
topic of petitions and lawsuits throughout this update. They will not
merit further mention unless otherwise noteworthy. (Japan Economic
Newswire 10/28/96)

Dec 8, 1996 Two North Korean members of an advisory panel of
non-Japanese residents set up to advise the mayor of Kawasaki walked
out of the panel's second meeting Sunday after complaining that their
South Korean counterparts had too many seats on the panel. Called the
Kawasaki City Representatives Assembly for Foreign Residents, the
26-member advisory panel comprised foreigners from 17 countries,
including North and South Korea, China, Brazil, the Philippines, the
United States and Thailand. The North Koreans got only 2 seats, the
South Koreans 5, and a government official had gone on record to say
that the selection had been unfair. The dispute was resolved in
February when six non-voting members, including three North Koreans
and one South Korean, were added to the panel. (The Daily Yomiuri
12/9/96 and Japan Economic Newswire 2/9/97)

Dec 18, 1996 South Korea announced it would send a team of lawyers to
investigate the eviction of Korean families in Uji, Japan. The Koreans
had been brought to the city as forced laborers in World War II, and
had remained in a camp after the war was over, even though the
Japanese government did not recognize the settlement and refused to
provide water for it. The land under the settlement was sold in 1989,
and the real estate developer had asked the residents to leave in
return for compensation, which the residents found inadequate.
(Mainichi Daily News 12/18/96)

Feb 1997 Japan donated $22.7 million to build apartments in Korea to
resettle Korean workers forced to labor on Sakhalin Island during
World War II and then abandoned when Communist Russia took over the
island. (Los Angeles Times 2/3/97)

Feb 20, 1997 Book-signing sessions by Yu Mi I, a Korean resident in
Japan who had authored two prize-winning novels, were cancelled after
a "rightist" called threatening to plant bombs in the stores if the
sessions were held. (Japan Economic Newswire 2/20/97)

Feb 24, 1997 The Osaka Prefecture decided to allow ethnic Koreans to
compete in a national athletic meet in the fall. They would even be
allowed to wear Korean dress. (Mainichi Daily News 2/24/97) Human
Rights Action for Koreans in Japan began a hotline for Koreans who had
been denied housing. (Mainichi Daily News 2/26/97)

Mar 18, 1997 The Okayama prefectural assembly's social welfare panel
voted Tuesday to support an appeal made by a pro-Pyongyang (North
Korea) Korean residents group against allowing permanent non-Japanese
residents to vote in local elections. The assembly as a whole was
expected to go along with the panel's decision on the appeal by the
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. The group said it
was the first time for a prefectural assembly to decide on such a
measure. (Japan Economic Newswire 3/18/97)

May 1, 1997 Authorities began investigating the case of a Korean
national who applied for a job at a private kindergarten using her
Japanese name. After being offered the job, she told the kindergarten
she was a Korean, and they withdrew the offer, saying that she had
falsified her credentials and that they hired only Japanese teachers
who had to teach the children Japanese customs. (Japan Economic
Newswire 5/1/97)

Aug 14, 1997 South Koreans living in Japan filed a suit in Korean
courts seeking the right to vote in Korean elections. Korean law
specified that Koreans living abroad could not vote in Korean
elections, even though the right to vote was included as a basic right
in the Korean constitution. It was the first time Koreans in Japan had
sought to vote in Korean elections. (Japan Economic Newswire 8/12/97)

Sep 23, 1997 The Kyoto municipal government released a poll of foreign
residents which disclosed that between 44 and 46 percent of foreigners
- including Koreans who had been living in Japan before 1952 - felt
that they were discriminated against in housing. The complaints cited
most often were the outright refusal of housing to "foreign students"
and the need for foreigners to get Japanese to act as guarantors for
their leases. Those whose housing was arranged for them by their
Japanese schools or employers reported no problems. (Mainichi Daily
News 9/23/97)

Oct 1997 Three ethnic Koreans passed the entrance exams to qualify for
positions in the Kawasaki municipal government - becoming the first
Koreans ever to do so. (Inter Press Service 10/3/97) Japanese women
who left Japan with their North Korean husbands in the 1960's were
allowed to visit their families in Japan for the first time. The women
had initially left through a Red Cross program which had promised them
that they would be able to visit Japan after two or three years.
(Japan Economic Newswire 10/23/97)

Oct 25, 1997 The Japanese government reported that South Koreans
topped the list of foreign illegal residents in Japan, with 52,854 as
of July 1. The number of foreigners staying illegally in Japan had
been on the decrease since 1993. (Bernama - Malaysian National News
10/27/97)

Nov 17, 1997 The Otsu District Court dismissed a Korean resident's
claim for a government pension for his time served in the Japanese
military during World War II on the basis that the man lacks Japanese
nationality. Kang Bu Jung, a 77-year-old South Korean in Kosai, Shiga
Prefecture, had sought a government pension under a 1952 law that
required the government to provide financial support to Japanese
military personnel wounded in service and for relatives of the dead.
Kang, who had Japanese nationality during Japan's 1910-1945 rule of
the Korean Peninsula, was later made a South Korean national by
government decree. Kang had called on the government to retract its
decision not to provide him with the pension and pay 20 million yen in
damages, saying that a denial of the pension is against the Japanese
Constitution guaranteeing 'all the people' equality under the law.
However, Presiding Judge Shigeaki Kaburaki defended the law's
requirement that recipients hold Japanese nationality, saying that at
the time of the law's promulgation, the compensation issue was planned
to be solved through negotiations between the Japanese and South
Korean governments. Tokyo and Seoul agreed in 1965 on
government-to-government compensation to South Korea. During the
trial, Kang said he engaged in the war as a Japanese and lost his
Japanese nationality against his will. (Japan Economic Newswire
11/17/97)

Jan 4, 1998 More than 40% of heads of prefectural and municipal
governments nationwide favored granting the right to vote in
prefectural- and municipal-level elections to foreign permanent
residents of Japan, according to a Kyodo News survey. The survey
showed that 31.4% favored granting such foreigners only the voting
right, while 11.0% favored granting both the right to vote and to
stand as a candidate in such elections. A total of 9.2% were against
giving foreign residents the right to vote in local elections. Another
40.0% replied they would follow the central government's position
without making clear their opinion on whether to give suffrage to
foreign residents. (Japan Economic Newswire 1/4/98)

Jan 30, 1998 An ethnic Korean resident in western Japan filed a human
rights infringement report with a local bar association, saying he had
been rejected as a tenant of a rented condominium because he was not a
Japanese. He said such a refusal was unconstitutional, as well as
contrary to the International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination. Note: This continues to be an issue
throughout the time covered by this update and will not be further
mentioned unless otherwise noteworthy. (Japan Economic Newswire 1/30/98)

Jan 31, 1998 The Kyoto District Court on Friday ordered the eviction
of two ethnic Korean households from the Utoro district of Uji, Kyoto
Prefecture (for details of the case, see entry for Dec. 18, 1996). The
residents argued that they had virtually acquired the right to own the
land because some families had been living there for more than 20
years. The residents' claim to ownership was challenged by the new
owner, who said that none of them truly considered themselves to be
owners of the land, pointing to the fact that most of them had granted
written permission to Nissan to sell the land in 1970. (Daily Yomiuri,
1/31/98)

Mar 2, 1998 Osaka prefecture's board of education put into force new
education guidelines to encourage the use of Korean names rather than
Japanese names by schoolchildren of Korean residents in Japan. The new
guidelines, stipulated that "the use of real names is crucial for the
establishment of a personal identity." (Malaysia General News 3/2/98)

Mar 5, 1998 The Tokyo municipal government released "Q&A: A Guide to
Your Life in Japan, " at major bookstores across the nation. The book
answered basic questions about Japanese life (like how to get a
telephone installed or get an ambulance) in six languages, including
Korean. (Daily Yomiuri 3/5/98)

Mar 26, 1998 The Osaka District Court granted partial damages of
570,000 yen in total to six of 13 foreign residents who demanded
compensation from the state and seven prefectures for unjust arrests
and trials over their refusal to be fingerprinted. Recognizing the
illegality of the arrests and detentions, Presiding Judge Maesaka said
the six plaintiffs awarded compensation had presented no danger of
fleeing justice or destroying evidence in refusing to report to the
police. (Mainichi Daily News 3/27/98)

May 26, 1998 The Osaka District Court rejected the claims of 10 Korean
residents that the government violated their privacy by keeping their
fingerprints on record. The 1992 revision of the Alien Registration
Law exempted permanent foreign residents of Japan from being
fingerprinted for their registration cards. The Justice Ministry,
however, kept microfilmed records of fingerprints taken before the
revision. Presiding Judge Yasukazu Watanabe told the 10 plaintiffs,
that the government was justified in retaining the fingerprints of
foreign residents for the sake of public welfare. (Mainichi Daily News
5/27/98)

Jun 15, 1998 A group of Korean residents of Japan who worked for the
Japanese military during World War II filed a lawsuit with South
Korea's Constitutional Court seeking their action against Japan's
discriminatory treatment. They claimed that Seoul violated South
Korea's equality-oriented Constitution by not taking measures after
the Japanese government refused to give them pensions despite the fact
they had Japanese nationality at the time of the war. They applied to
the Japanese government for pensions for disabled former soldiers and
military employees, but were rejected because they lost their Japanese
nationality upon Japan's surrender in August 1945. They demanded
international mediation to solve the pension issue. (Japan Economic
Newswire 6/15/98)

Jul 31, 1998 The Osaka High Court ordered the owner of a condominium
to pay 400,000 yen in damages to a Korean family for discriminating
against them on ethnic grounds. When the family first signed a
contract with the owner to rent the condominium, the owner told them
not to tell their neighbors that they were Korean residents and not to
go about the condominium grounds wearing traditional Korean clothes.
(Japan Economic Newswire 7/31/98)

Aug 25, 1998 The Korean Justice Ministry announced a new law that
granted overseas Koreans legal status almost equivalent to that of
local Koreans, effective July 1999. It would also allow them to vote;
to assume official posts except diplomatic, defense, intelligence,
criminal investigation and judicial fields; and be hired in any
profession except gambling and pursuits that can hurt traditional
Korean values. They would be allowed to bring money from sales of real
estate here out of the country, to have financial transactions without
limit and to subscribe to medical insurance, according to the
ministry. (Korea Times 8/25/98)

Sep 4, 1998 A 23-year-old Korean graduate of Korean University in
Kodaira, Tokyo - a school for pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan
- passed an entrance examination for Kyoto University's graduate
school of science. It was the first time that a state-run university
graduate school ever accepted applications for entrance examinations
from students or graduates of non-Japanese schools in the country.
(Daily Yomiuri 9/5/98)

Sep 10, 1998 A spokesman for the General Association of Korean
Residents in Japan (Chongryon) stated that North Koreans in Japan had
been targeted with a campaign of murder, rape and kidnapping threats
since Pyongyang fired a suspected ballistic missile. North Korean
media also filed protest against the harassment. (Agence France Presse
9/10/98 and 9/15/98)

Oct 6, 1998 The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and
the New Peace Party (NPP) jointly submitted to the House of
Representatives a bill aimed at giving permanent non-Japanese
residents the right to vote in local elections. The proposed bill
would give voting rights to permanent residents aged 20 years or older
who lived in the same town or city for over three months and
registered at local election committees. The non-Japanese residents
would be able to vote in elections for governors and mayors, as well
as prefectural and municipal assembly members. They would also be able
to become observers at these elections, or become local welfare and
human rights officials. The bill, however, would not give the
residents the right to run for office and would not cover
national-level elections. (Japan Economic Newswire 10/6/98) Justice
Minister Shozaburo Nakamura told a parliamentary session that his
ministry was moving to scrap the requirement that foreigners submit a
fingerprint when registering to live in Japan (Bergen County NJ Record
10/8/98)

Oct 8, 1998 Japan offered its fullest apology ever for its 35-year
colonial rule of South Korea. "I feel acute remorse and offer an
apology from my heart," Prime Minister Obuchi said. "I have made our
country's position clear." (Toronto Star 10/9/98)

Oct 10, 1998 The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) submitted
a rebuttal report to the official Japanese government fourth human
rights report which was submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Committee
last year in compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. Included in its list of grievances were the
discrimination against ethnic Koreans, and the requirement that all
foreigners carry alien registration cards. (Japan Economic Newswire
10/10/98)

Oct 25, 1998 North Korean radio accused the Japanese government of
suppressing Chongnyon and Korean residents in Japan; inciting the mass
media to be hostile to Koreans; and of conducting police surveillance
on Koreans. (BBC Worldwide Monitoring 10/26/98)

Oct 29, 1998 The United Nations Human Rights Panel announced its
conclusion that Japan made no significant progress in human rights in
the previous five years. One of the problems cited was the persistent
discrimination in the education of Korean children. (Japan Economic
Newswire 10/30/98)

Nov 3, 1998 A handmade gasoline bomb was thrown at the headquarters of
the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan in Chiyoda Ward,
Tokyo. (Daily Yomiuri 4/11/98)

Nov 11, 1998 About 1,300 people gathered to protest the harassment of
Korean students and the throwing of fire bombs against the group's
offices in Tokyo and Yokohama, which they believed was prompted by the
Aug. 31 launching of a North Korean rocket over Japan. According to
Chongryun, 36 cases of harassment of Korean students had been reported
nationwide as of Nov. 10. (Japan Economic Newswire 11/11/98)

Nov 13, 1998 A group of Korean residents protested discrimination in a
government plan to distribute merchandise coupons to families with
young children and people over 65. Because the distribution of the
coupons would go only to people receiving government pensions, Koreans
would be ineligible to receive the coupons, even though their taxes
would help pay for them. (Japan Times 11/14/98)

Dec 24, 1998 The Hiroshima government announced that it would allow
the relocation of a stone tower dedicated to the Korean victims of the
1945 U.S. atomic bombing to the Peace Memorial Park. The tower had
stood outside the park because the city had decided in 1967 not to
allow any new construction in the park. Many Korean residents consider
the tower's location a symbol of discrimination, since many other
peace monuments and memorial towers, including those for children and
students, stood inside the park. (Japan Economic Newswire 12/24/98)

Feb 15, 1999 The president of the South Korea-Japan Parliamentarians
Union, Park Tae Joon, urged top Japanese politicians to work on
legislation giving permanent Korean residents in Japan the right to
vote in prefectural and municipal elections. He also hinted that he
might consider granting Japanese residents in Korea reciprocal rights
if approved. (Japan Economic Newswire 2/15/99 and BBC Worldwide
Monitoring 2/17/99)

Feb 16, 1999 A man believed to be a member of a right-wing
organization rammed a truck into the office of Kiyoshi Ozawa, a
Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives.
Police believed Fujiya was protesting Ozawa's attendance at a party
hosted by Chongryon celebrating the anniversary of the foundation of
North Korea. According to staff at Ozawa's office, since that time,
right-wing groups had besieged Ozawa's office with loudspeaker trucks
and sent in fax messages condemning his attendance at the party.
(Daily Yomiuri 2/17/99)

Feb 25, 1999 The Human Rights Association for Koreans in Japan,
composed of both North and South Koreans, requested that permanent
residents be exempt from the regulations requiring foreigners to carry
alien registration cards at all times. (Japan Economic Newswire 2/25/99)

Mar 4, 1999 The Liberal Democratic Party endorsed a government plan to
revise the Alien Registration Law which would eliminate the
fingerprinting requirement for a foreign residents, but replace it
with detailed information about a foreigner's family in the municipal
register. The information would include the names of the foreign
resident's mother and father, if they live in Japan, and his or her
spouse, and would be accompanied by the foreign resident's signature.
Foreign residents, relatives living with them and their proxies would
be allowed to request copies of their official registers, which had
been denied in principle until now. Officials of the pro-Seoul Korean
Residents Union in Japan (Mindan) expressed disappointment in the
proposal because it did not eliminate the requirement that foreigners
carry registration cards with them at all times. (Daily Yomiuri 3/5/99
and Japan Economic Newswire 3/9/99)

Mar 12, 1999 The Osaka prefectural assembly approved a written
petition advocating suffrage in local elections for permanent foreign
residents in Japan. With the vote, Osaka - which contains more than
one-fourth of Japan's Korean residents - became the third prefecture,
after Kanagawa and Nara, to grant suffrage to permanent foreign
residents. (Japan Economic Newswire 3/11/99)

Mar 21, 1999 Newspapers reported that Seoul is considering giving
voting rights to its non-Korean residents. The remarks were reportedly
made during negotiations between Japan and South Korea, as a
suggestion that Japan similarly grant suffrage to Korean residents in
Japan, specifically the right to vote in and run for office in local
council elections, and to allow Koreans to work in Japanese government
jobs. (Korea Times 3/21/99)

Apr 14, 1999 Justice Minister Takao Jinnouchi on Wednesday ruled out
the abolition of a system obliging foreign residents in Japan to carry
an alien registration card at all times. Jinnouchi said the system is
"rational and necessary." The minister said the mandatory system which
imposes punishment on those who fail to carry their registration cards
was needed in order to ascertain promptly the status of foreigners
legally staying in the country. (Japan Economic Newswire 4/14/99)

Apr 18, 1999 Some 200 foreign residents, clad in the traditional dress
of their respective homelands, held a demonstration in Tokyo to
protest proposed changes in the alien registration and immigration
control laws. The demonstrators, mainly foreign residents from North
and South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and Brazil but also members
of Japanese citizens' groups held signs protesting the need for
registration, and discrimination. (Japan Economic Newswire 4/18/99)

May 22, 1999 The House of Councilors of Japanese Parliament passed the
revisions to the Alien Registration law (details, see 3/4/99). It was
expected to pass in the House of Representatives in the same Diet
session. (Daily Yomiuri 5/22/99)

Jun 5, 1999 Two Koreans sent their Alien Registration cards to the
Justice Ministry in protest of the Japanese policy requiring them to
carry the cards with them at all times. (Japan Economic Newswire 6/5/99)

Jul 8, 1999 The Japanese Ministry of Education announced a plan to let
Japanese school drop-outs and graduates from non-Japanese schools to
sit for the University Entrance Qualifying Examination, or daiken,
beginning in the year 2000. This would allow these students, such as
students from Korean schools, to prove they have achieved the same
standards as Japanese students and qualify for state universities.
Koreans did not like the plan, saying it did not grant the Korean
students the equal standing with the Japanese as they had requested. A
Korean student later took the proposal to the UN Commission on Human
Rights, saying it created an unnecessary burden for graduates of
Korean schools. The daiken had previously only been open to graduates
of Japanese high schools. (Mainichi Daily News 7/10/99 and Japan
Economic Newswire 8/5/99)

Aug 13, 1999 The Japanese parliament ratified the changes to the Alien
Registration law. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer 8/14/99)

Sep 6, 1999 Japanese authorities released Kin Hui Ro, a Korean who had
killed two Japanese gangsters and then taken 13 Japanese hostage in
1968 to protest Japanese discrimination against Koreans. He would have
been released earlier had he had a Japanese guarantor. (Japan Economic
Newswire 8/25/99 and 9/6/99)

Oct 2, 1999 A group of notaries revealed that they had found that 22
of the 51 municipalities surveyed in 10 prefectures failed to comply
with the guidelines requiring them to delete references to the
naturalization of naturalized citizens on copies of their residence
permits. This denied the citizens the right to equal treatment. They
expected the number of noncompliant municipalities to go up as their
investigation continued. (Mainichi Daily News 2/10/99)

Oct 15, 1999 The Osaka High Court ruled it may be unconstitutional for
the government not to extend pensions to Korean permanent residents of
Japan who were injured while serving for the Japanese military during
World War II, but turned down a request to order the government to pay
the pensions. It was the first time a high court has mentioned
unconstitutionality in a lawsuit involving the 1952 law which changed
the nationalities of Koreans. In addition, the court ruled that the
government was probably violating the International Covenants on Human
Rights banning discrimination based on nationality. (Japan Economic
Newswire 10/15/99)

Oct 17, 1999 Part of a stone tower dedicated to Korean victims of the
1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima was found defaced with
florescent paint. (Japan Economic Newswire 10/17/99)

Oct 23, 1999 At the end of a two-day ministerial meeting between
Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean Prime Minister
Kim Jong Pil, Kim reiterated Seoul's call on Tokyo to realize "in the
near future" legislation giving permanent Korean residents in Japan
the right to vote in local elections. (Japan Economic Newswire
10/23/99)

Oct 28, 1999 The Komeito party urged its partners in the governing
coalition to support a bill giving foreign permanent residents, except
those of North Korean nationality, the right to vote in local
elections. The Komeito plan said that voting rights should be given to
foreign permanent residents who are originally from "countries
recognized by Japan," thus effectively excluding North Koreans.
(Mainichi Daily News 10/28/99)

Nov 8, 1999 A confidential government source revealed to a Japanese
newspaper that the government and the Liberal Democratic Party were
planning to offer compensation to 2-3,000 Korean residents of Japan
who worked as soldiers or civilians for the Japanese Imperial Army
during World War II. (Daily Yomiuri 11/8/99)

Dec 3, 1999 A newspaper revealed that the Osaka government did not
live up to its promise to include foreign residents in its opinion
polls on government affairs in 1999. The government blamed
inconsistencies in how different local offices collected information
on foreigners, and said it would probably include them the following
year. (Japan Economic Newswire 12/3/99)





2004 * Minorities At Risk Project



Center for International Development and Conflict Management
0145 Tydings Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742


Last Updated May 24, 2004


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