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Koreans in Japan

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Zainichi (在日, 재일) is short for "Zainichi Chosenjin" (Koreans/Chosun people in Japan, 在日朝鮮人) or "Zainichi Kankokujin" (South Koreans in Japan, 在日韓国人), meaning the Korean residents of Japan. The Japanese word Zai-nichi itself means "staying in Japan." For example, Zainichi-Gaikokujin (在日外国人) refers to "foreign nationals living in Japan" (visiting aliens are called Rainichi-Gaikokujin where "Rainichi" means "visiting Japan"). However, "zainichi" is used primarily to refer to long-term resident aliens of Korean heritage in Japan alone because of their significant presence in the Japanese society. Zainichi Koreans do not include Koreans who have already naturalized in Japan.

Zainichi Koreans constitute the largest ethnic minority group in Japan. According to the statistics at Immigration Bureau of Japan there were 613,791 Zainichi Korean as of year 2003. Many Zainichi today are 4th generation descendants and predominantly use Japanese as their primary language. According the statistics at the Ministry of Justice of Japan, about 10,000 Koreans naturalize in Japan every year.

Year Total Applicants Accepted Applicants Rejected Applicants
Total Korean Chinese Others
1996 14,944 14,495 9,898 3,976 621 97
1997 16,164 15,061 9,678 4,729 654 90
1998 17,486 14,779 9,561 4,637 581 108
1999 17,067 16,120 10,059 5,335 726 202
2000 14,936 15,812 9,842 5,245 725 215
2001 13,442 15,291 10,295 4,377 619 130
2002 13,344 14,339 9,188 4,442 709 107
2003 15,666 17,633 11,778 4,722 1,133 150
2004 16,790 16,336 11,031 4,122 1,183 148

History

Modern Zainichi Koreans can trace their diaspora to the early 20th century under the Imperial Japanese rule. In 1910 as the result of Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty Korean people all became the subjects of the Empire of Japan. Japanese land and production confiscation initiatives against Korean farmers during the 1910s created economic migrants during the 1920s. War policies in the ensuing decades then forced Korean people to migrate to Japan, often to work in the most dangerous occupations. Also noteworth was the large number of Jeju-do residents and paek-jeong (白丁) descendants migrated to Japan to escape disrimination in Korea during this period.

Zainichi Koreans were still Japanese during the early years of the post-war period (1946-47), and 148 Korean-Japanese in the Imperial Japanese military were convicted at local war crime tribunals in Asia of Class B and C war crimes, 23 of whom were sentenced to death. [1] Alien Registration Ordinance (外国人登録令) in May 2, 1947 made all Korean-Japanese foreign nationals while retaining Japanese nationality. Joseon (aka Chosun, 조선, 朝鮮), the old name of Korea, was put in the item of nationality on their alien registration. The Allied occupation of Japan ended in April 28, 1952 with the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and on that very day, the Japanese government revoked the Japanese nationality of Zainichi Koreans. Zainichi Koreans were thus forced to seek nationality with another country that would accept them. In 1948 the northern and southern parts of Korea declared independence individually, that made Chosen, or the old undivided Korea, a defunct nation. In 1965 Japan concluded Treaty on Basic Relations with South Korea and recognized the South Korean government as the only legitimate government of Korea. Since then Zainichi started to change their legal status from Chosen to South Korean nationality. Those who chose to side with the communist North Korea remained with Chosen status as the Japanese government does not recognize North Korea as a legitimate state.

Zainichi today have established a stable existence in Japan after decades of intense hardship. Years of activism, such as Mintohren, and community support by Zainichi organizations (Mindan, Chongryon, Mintoren, among others), other minority groups (Ainu, Burakumin, Ryukyuans, Uilta, Nivkhs and others), and sympathetic Japanese have improved the societal atmosphere for Zainichi in Japan. Most younger Zainichi now work for Japanese firms and marry Japanese. However, many still hide their heritage to avoid discrimination, which seemed to die down until 2002 when North Korea revealed that it had abducted Japanese nationals because zainichi organizations are suspected by the Japanese security police of assisting North Korean abductors. Also Pachinko businesses, mostly owned and operated by zainichi, have been suspected of transferring large sums of money to the nuclear development of North Korea.

See also

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