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Attorneys for a group of Chosen Gakko students hold signs reading “Unfair judgment” and “The students voices aren’t behind heard” outside of the Tokyo District Court after a ruling was issued allowing the government to deny subsidies to the pro-North Korean school on Sept 13.

“How much more do we have to scream? Our voices have been stolen. Can you hear us? Are you listening?”

On the afternoon of Sept. 13, a group of Korean-Japanese in front of the Tokyo District Court in Kasumigaseki, a Tokyo neighborhood that houses many government offices, were chanting a song called “Let the Voices Gather, Let the Songs Come,” which contains a mixture of Japanese and Korean words. This was the day when the Tokyo District Court was scheduled to make a decision on the legality of the Japanese government’s decision to exclude a “Chosen Gakko” (pro-North Korean school) from a government program to provide free high school education.

Unlike the hope expressed in the song, the voice of the Korean-Japanese did not reach the ears of the Japanese government or court. When the legal team raised banners that said “unfair ruling” and “the Korean high school students’ voices were not heard” – implying they had lost the case – the singing turned into wailing and screaming: “How much longer will they keep up this discrimination?” and “This is unfair!”

The Tokyo District Court ruled against the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by 62 graduates of a Chosen Gakko middle and high school who asked the government to pay each of them 100,000 yen (US$900) for damages suffered as a result of being excluded from the high school subsidy program. The court drew upon documents from Japan’s National Police Agency and an investigation by security officials that found that the Chosen Gakko are closely connected with the North Korea-affiliated General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) to conclude that it “could not be said to be unreasonable” for Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to exclude the school from the high school subsidies.

In 2010, the Japanese government, then controlled by the Democratic Party, began taking steps to make high school education free by having the state pay for tuition, but the decision about whether Chosen Gakko would be eligible for the subsidies was deferred because of the North Korean issue. The Chosen Gakko were treated as exceptions, even though they are classified as “miscellaneous schools” by Japan’s education legislation just like international schools, which do receive government subsidies. In 2013, after the Liberal Democratic Party returned to power, the Education Ministry revised the administrative regulations to completely exclude the Chosen Gakko from the high school subsidies.

Since May 31, 2013, students from Korea University (the Chongryon-affiliated university based in Japan, not to be confused with the university of the same name located in Seoul) have organized protests every Friday in front of the Education Ministry, where they sing “Let the Voices Gather, Let the Songs Come.” Graduates of Chosen Gakko middle and high schools have filed lawsuits at every district court asking for the government’s decision to be overruled.

The courts have issued conflicting rulings. On July 19, the Hiroshima District Court sided with the government, concluding that Chongryon’s influence on the Chosen Gakko was undeniable. But on July 28, the Osaka District Court dealt a blow to the Japanese government’s position by ruling that excluding the Chosen Gakko was “based on a political opinion that was unrelated to the equality of educational opportunity.” Lawsuits are pending in Aichi Prefecture and Fukuoka Prefecture. The ruling in Tokyo is even more disappointing for Korean-Japanese and the Japanese citizens who support them since it could be a critical juncture that sets the tone for these conflicting decisions.

“It’s like they think the North Korean issue gives them an excuse to treat Korean-Japanese however they like,” said Kim Seon-myeong, 23, a student at Hitotsubashi University who graduated from a Chosen Gakko in Aichi Prefecture. “I had my hopes up because of our victory in Osaka. I was really sure [we weren’t going to lose].”

“It’s obvious that an ethnicity-based organization is going to support ethnicity-based education. The purpose of the high school subsidies is equality of educational opportunity, and it’s unfair to exclude them from that program for political reasons. We will continue our fight,” said Kazuo Hasegawa, the president of a civic group that opposes excluding Chosen Gakko from the subsidies program.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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