| 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) |
