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Koreans in Japan Lee, Sook-Kyoung ******************************************************************************** I have a friend named Asami. She studied at my home university as an exchange student. Last winter, we went to Thailand together for sightseeing. At that time, I found she got a Korean passport. Her real name is Choi, Mami, and shefs Korean national. I could not believe that because she looked like a perfect Japanese. She told me she did not know she was Korean until she became a junior high school student. Her parents hid the fact protecting her from ethnic discrimination. I think that is also why she is using her Japanese name. Today, approximately 700,000 North and South Korean nationals are dwelling in Japan. Although the vast majority of them were born in Japan and use Japanese as their first language, relatively few possess Japanese citizenship. It is because Japanese nationality is based on lineage, meaning that Korean descendants are not automatically awarded Japanese citizenship. Including Koreans who are naturalized and some children of Korean-Japanese intermarriages, on estimated 1% of the 120 million people in Japan are either North or South Korean nationals or Japanese nationals of Korean descent. In Japan, there have been many problems related to Korean residents in Japan, and these problems continue in the present. They cannot be solved without understanding Koreans living in Japan. To understand Koreans living in Japan, the following should be discussed: what brought them to Japan, what their legal status is in Japan, and how they have been treated. Also, identity crises of Koreans who belong to the new generation in Japan cannot be excluded because that is one of the big problems that the Korean community in Japan is faced. Historical Background After the annexation of Korea in 1910, Koreans were forced to become the subjects of Imperial Japan. The occupying colonial policy imposed severe control on Korea. The Japanese government confiscated a significant amount of land from Korean landowners from 1910 to 1918. From 1920 to 1934, Japanese authorities initiated a project to increase rice production in Korea and exported the major part of the rice to Japan causing serious famine among Koreans. As a result, the life bases of many Koreans were devastated. Many Koreans left their country for Japan in search of jobs in order to escape the poverty at home. Movement of Koreans between Japan and Korea (1917-1923) Year Number crossing to Japan Number returning to Korea Number Residing in Japan Annual Increase 1917 14,012 3,927 10,085 10,085 1918 17,910 9,305 18,690 8,605 1919 20,968 12,739 26,919 8,229 1920 27,497 20,947 33,469 6,550 1921 38,118 25,536 46,051 12,582 1922 70,462 46,326 70,187 24,136 1923 97,395 89,745 77,837 7,650 Between 1939 and 1945, many Koreans were forcibly brought to Japan to work under even more severe conditions. During this same period, the Japanese military forcibly brought many young Korean women to serve them as gcomfort womenh. When Japan was defeated by the Allied Forces in 1945, it is estimated that there were approximately 2,300,000 Koreans in Japan. On August 15, 1945, Japan was defeated in the World War II. This meant that Koreans were liberated from Japanese colonial ruling. Many Koreans who resided in Japan at that time returned to Korea. However, between 500,000 and 600,000 Koreans remained in Japan because they had no other choice. For the Koreans who were forcibly brought over, Japan must have been nothing more than a country against which to bear a grudge. In Japan, they had no freedom and were forced to work under severe conditions in coalmines, military plants, and construction sites for airports and huge tunnels for military use. Furthermore, they believed that their families were eagerly awaiting their safe return. There must have been no reason for them to remain in Japan. On the other hand, those Koreans who had come to Japan earlier were different.
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