Chōsen gakkō

Chōsen gakkō (Japanese: 朝鮮学校 Chōsen gakkō; Korean: 조선학교) are schools located in Japan at which Korean students receive education. It is sponsored by North Korea and Chongryon.

Classroom at Tokyo Korean High School with photographs of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il
Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School
Tokyo Korean 1st Elementary and Junior High School (東京朝鮮第一初中級学校)

Chōsen gakkō are foreign schools for Koreans in Japan who strongly support North Korea, although they are not acknowledged as regular schools by Koreans in Japan who support South Korea and Japanese who support the South over the North. On the opposite side, Kankoku gakkō（韓国学校）are Korean schools sponsored by South Korea and operated by Mindan. Kankoku gakkō have fewer students than Chōsen gakkō, but they are acknowledged by South Koreans. Koreans who live in Japan supporting South Korea are likely to attend a Kankoku gakkō. Alternatively, they can go to a normal school in Japan with Japanese when there is no Kankoku gakkō in their area. Most Koreans who have lived in Japan since they were born, however, go to normal schools even if there is a Kankoku gakkō near them.[1]

As of 2013, there were 73 North Korean grade schools and ten North Korean high schools in Japan.[2] As of 2014, there were about 150,000 pro-North Korea Zainichi Koreans in Japan, and they form the clientele of the North Korean schools.[3] As of 2013, the North Korea-aligned schools had almost 9,000 ethnic Korean students.[2]

There is also a North Korea-aligned university in Japan, Korea University.[2]

History

The schools were established by Koreans who came to Japan during the pre-World War II period and during the war. Historically the North Korean government and the Chongryon provided funding for the North Korean schools in Japan. Justin McCurry of The Guardian stated that politically conservative Japanese people opposed the schools because since they believed that "a group that blatantly proclaims its loyalty to an unfriendly regime" should not receive the same treatment as the traditional Japanese education system.[3]

The schools received increasing support in the 1950s and 1960s since many Koreans in Japan sided with the Chongryon; at the time North Korea appeared to have good economic prospects.[2]

Beginning in 2010 and by 2014 increasing tensions between the Japanese and North Korean governments caused Japanese cities and prefectures to end subsidies to North Korean schools.[3] In the fiscal year of 2011 the Osaka Prefectural Government ended subsidies to a North Korean educational corporation which operates ten schools.[4]

The Japanese central government also took measures against the schools. In 2010 it prevented North Korean high schools from being a part of a tuition free waiver program.[3] In February 2013 the Japanese central government, citing the development of the North Korean nuclear program and a lack of cooperation regarding the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens,[4] officially declared that North Korean schools may not be a part of the tuition waiver program.[3]

The January 2013 passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2087, which increased sanctions against North Korea, caused North Korean government support for the schools to erode.[3]

By 2014 the loss of funding put many North Korean schools in financial peril.[3]

Operations

In 2014 Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo director Robert Dujarric stated that the North Korean government uses the North Korea-aligned schools as a means to propagandize, and Takushoku University professor Hideshi Takesada stated that the schools teach obedience to Kim Jong-un and uses "very ideological" curriculum.[5]

As of 2013 many schools use their own curriculum distinct from that of North Korean curriculum. The schools' teachers generally write their own textbooks.[2]

Around 2003 many North Korean primary and junior high schools removed portraits of the Kim Il-sung family from the classrooms due to a belief that such portraits were not appropriate for small children.[2] In 2014 Kim Chol, the principal of a Chongryon elementary school in Ikuno-ku, Osaka, stated that most North Korean-aligned schools in Japan no longer display portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il since the schools wanted to attract more students and because many parents had different political ideas.[4]

Schools

[6]

  • Aichi Prefecture
    • Aichi Korean Middle and High School (愛知朝鮮中高級学校)
    • Aichi No. 7 Korean Primary School (愛知朝鮮第七初級学校)
    • Nagoya Korean Primary School (名古屋朝鮮初級学校)
    • Toshun Korean Elementary School & Kindergarten (東春朝鮮初級学校) - Formerly had junior high school classes[7]
    • Toyohashi Korean Primary School (豊橋朝鮮初級学校)
  • Chiba Prefecture
  • Ehime Prefecture
    • Shikoku Korean Elementary and Junior High School (四国朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Fukui Prefecture
    • Hokuriku Korean Elementary and Junior High School (北陸朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Fukuoka Prefecture
    • Kyushu Korean Junior-Senior High School (九州朝鮮中高級学校)
    • Kitakyushu Korean Elementary School (北九州朝鮮初級学校)
    • Fukuoka Korean Elementary School (福岡朝鮮初級学校)
    • Kokura Korean Kindergarten (小倉朝鮮幼稚園) - Kitakyushu
  • Fukushima Prefecture
    • Fukushima Korean School (福島朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Gifu Prefecture
    • Gifu Korean Elementary and Middle School (岐阜朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Gunma Prefecture
    • Gunma Korean Elementary and Middle School (群馬朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Hiroshima Prefecture
  • Hokkaido
  • Hyōgo Prefecture
    • Kobe Korean Senior High School (神戸朝鮮高級学校)
    • Kobe Korean Elementary and Junior High School (神戸朝鮮初中級学校)
    • West Kobe Korean Elementary School (西神戸朝鮮初級学校)
    • Amagasaki Korean Elementary and Middle School (尼崎朝鮮初中級学校)
    • Itami Korean Elementary School (伊丹朝鮮初級学校)
    • Seiban North Korean Elementary and Middle School (西播朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Ibaraki Prefecture
  • Kanagawa Prefecture[8]
    • Kanagawa Korean Jr./ Sr. High School (神奈川朝鮮中高級学校)
    • Yokohama Korean Primary School (横浜朝鮮初級学校)
    • Tsurumi Korean Primary School (鶴見朝鮮初級学校) - Yokohama
    • Kawasaki Korean Primary School (川崎朝鮮初級学校) - Formerly served junior high school[7]
    • Nambu Korean Primary School (南武朝鮮初級学校) - Kawasaki
  • Kyoto Prefecture
    • Kyoto Korean Junior High-High School (京都朝鮮中高級学校)
    • Kyoto Korean Elementary School (京都朝鮮初級学校)
    • Kyoto Korean No. 2 Elementary School (京都朝鮮第二初級学校) - Formerly served junior high school[7]
  • Mie Prefecture
    • Yokkaichi Korean Elementary and Middle School (四日市朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Miyagi Prefecture
  • Nagano Prefecture
    • Nagano Korean Elementary and Junior High School (長野朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Niigata Prefecture
    • Niigata Korean Elementary and Junior High School (新潟朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Okayama Prefecture
    • Okayama Korean Elementary and Junior High School (岡山朝鮮初中級学校)
    • Okayama Korean Kindergarten (岡山朝鮮幼稚園)
  • Osaka Prefecture
    • Osaka Korean High School (大阪朝鮮高級学校)
    • North Osaka Korean Elementary and Middle School (北大阪朝鮮初中級学校)
    • East Osaka Korean Middle School (東大阪朝鮮中級学校)
    • Ikuno Korean Elementary School (生野朝鮮初級学校)
    • Johoku Korean Elementary School (城北朝鮮初級学校)
    • Middle Osaka Korean Elementary School (中大阪朝鮮初級学校)
    • Osaka Korean No. 4 Elementary School (大阪朝鮮第四初級学校)
    • Osaka Fukushima Korean Elementary School (大阪福島朝鮮初級学校)
    • South Osaka Korean Elementary School (南大阪朝鮮初級学校)
    • Higashi Osaka Korean Elementary School (東大阪朝鮮初級学校)
  • Saitama Prefecture
    • Saitama Korean Elementary and Middle School (埼玉朝鮮初中級学校)
    • Saitama Korean Kindergarten (埼玉朝鮮幼稚園)
  • Shiga Prefecture
    • Shiga Korean Elementary School (滋賀朝鮮初級学校)
  • Shizuoka Prefecture
    • Shizuoka Korean Elementary and Junior High School (静岡朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Tochigi Prefecture
    • Tochigi Korean Primary and Junior High School (栃木朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Tokyo
    • Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School (東京朝鮮中高級学校)
    • Tokyo Korean 1st Elementary and Junior High School (東京朝鮮第一初中級学校)
    • Tokyo Korean 2nd Elementary School (東京朝鮮第二初級学校)
    • Tokyo Korean 3rd Elementary School (東京朝鮮第三初級学校)
    • Tokyo Korean 4th Elementary and Junior High School (東京朝鮮第四初中級学校)
    • Tokyo Korean 5th Elementary and Junior High School (東京朝鮮第五初中級学校)
    • Tokyo Korean 6th Elementary School (東京朝鮮第六初級学校)
    • Tokyo Korean 9th Elementary School (東京朝鮮第九初級学校)
    • West Tokyo Korean No. 1 Elementary and Junior High School (西東京朝鮮第一初中級学校)
    • West Tokyo Korean No. 2 Elementary and Junior High School (西東京朝鮮第二初中級学校)
  • Wakayama Prefecture
    • Wakayama Korean Elementary and Middle School (和歌山朝鮮初中級学校)
  • Yamaguchi Prefecture
    • Yamaguchi Korean Elementary and Junior High School (山口朝鮮初中級学校)

Closed and/or merged schools

[7]

  • Aichi Prefecture
    • Aichi Korean No. 9 Elementary School (愛知朝鮮第九初級学校)
  • Fukuoka Prefecture
    • Chikuho Korean Elementary School (筑豊朝鮮初級学校)
  • Gifu Prefecture
    • Tono Korean Elementary and Middle School (東濃朝鮮初中級学校) - Toki
  • Hyogo Prefecture
    • Akashi Korean Elementary School (明石朝鮮初級学校)
    • Amagasaki East Korean Elementary School (尼崎東朝鮮初級学校)
    • Hanshin Korean Elementary School (阪神朝鮮初級学校)
    • Takarazuka Korean Elementary School (宝塚朝鮮初級学校)
  • Kyoto Prefecture
    • Maizuru Korean Elementary and Junior High School (舞鶴朝鮮初中級学校)
    • Kyoto Korean No. 1 Elementary School (京都朝鮮第一初級学校)
    • Kyoto Korean No. 3 Elementary School (京都朝鮮第三初級学校)[7] - Merged/renamed to Kyoto Korean Elementary School
  • Nara Prefecture
    • Nara Korean Elementary School (奈良朝鮮初級学校)
  • Osaka Prefecture
    • Sakai Korean Elementary School (堺朝鮮初級学校)
    • Senshu Korean Elementary School (泉州朝鮮初級学校) - Izumiōtsu
  • Tokyo
    • Tokyo No. 8 Korean Elementary School (東京朝鮮第八初級学校)
  • Yamaguchi Prefecture
    • Yamaguchi Korean High School (山口朝鮮高級学校)
    • Shimonoseki Korean Elementary and Junior High School (下関朝鮮初中級学校)
    • Ube Korean Elementary and Junior High School (宇部朝鮮初中級学校)
    • Tokuyama Korean Elementary and Junior High School (徳山朝鮮初中級学校)

See also

References
  1. ""Center of Ethnic Education" Tokyo Korea School ,Tokyo Kankoku gakko, "When we need more support from South Korea". THE FACT JPN. 2013-12-09. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
  2. Talmadge, Eric. "Japan turns up pressure on pro-Pyongyang schools" (). Associated Press. August 24, 2013. Retrieved on April 12, 2015. Alternate link at() Yahoo! News. Alternate link at Fox News.
  3. McCurry, Justin. "Japan's Korean schools being squeezed by rising tensions with Pyongyang" () The Guardian. Monday 15 November 2014. Retrieved on 12 April 2015.
  4. Watanabe, Natsume. "Grade school for Zainichi Koreans in Osaka struggling to survive" (). The Japan Times. August 11, 2014. Retrieved on October 14, 2015.
  5. Reynolds, Isabel. "North Korean schools in Japan soldiering on despite tough times" (). Bloomberg News at The Japan Times. November 13, 2014. Retrieved on April 12, 2015.
  6. "ウリハッキョ一覧" (). Chongryon. Retrieved on October 14, 2015.
  7. "ウリハッキョ一覧" (). Chongryon. November 6, 2005. Retrieved on October 15, 2015. Compare the school names in the 2005 page to the current one. Changes in the names indicates the removal of educational stages.
  8. "The Education System and Schools Archived 2013-07-27 at the Wayback Machine" (). Government of Kanagawa Prefecture. Retrieved on October 13, 2015.

Further reading
Videos

(in Japanese) Available online:

Not available online:

  • 松下 佳弘. "Administrative Measures and Counteractions over the "Total Closure" of Korean Schools between 1949 and 1951 : The Case Study of Aichi Dai-roku Choren Elementary School in Kozakai Town, Hoi Gun" (朝鮮人学校の「完全閉鎖」をめぐる攻防(一九四九~五一年) : 愛知第六朝連小学校(宝飯郡小坂井町)の事例から). 研究紀要 (20), 155-188, 2015-07. 世界人権問題研究センター. See profile at CiNii.
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