hankyoreh

Title card of “I am From Chosun.” (courtesy of M&CF)

“It feels like there’s going to be a spy incident based on blanket accusations against Koreans in Japan. The president keeps emphasizing ideology, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

The South Korean Ministry of Unification is investigating Korean filmmakers and activists for meeting with officials from organizations with ties to North Korea without notifying the South Korean government. These organizations include the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon, and Chosen gakko, schools in Japan sponsored by the North Korean government. The investigation is fomenting an atmosphere of paranoia and fear among ethnic Koreans residing in Japan.

“The Unification Ministry investigation is nothing to laugh at. Support for the president [Yoon Suk-yeol] is low, and unless they find something to exploit in their favor during next year’s general election, I think they might fabricate spy accusations,” said an ethnic Korean who emigrated to Japan in the 1980s.

“Independent lawmaker Yoon Mee-hyang attended a memorial [on Sept. 1] commemorating the victims of the massacres after the Great Kanto Earthquake 100 years ago, and because the memorial was organized by Chongryon, they accused her of being a traitor and a communist. It doesn’t bode well,” the Korean emigre said.

“It’s perfectly natural for Koreans who have been in Japan for several generations to be on familiar terms with Chongryon members. It’s certainly nothing to report to the authorities. To be safe, it seems I’ll have to keep my distance for the time being,” lamented a third-generation Korean who runs a restaurant in Tokyo.

The Korean community in Japan has good reason for being worried. Over 130 Japanese-born Koreans chose to travel to South Korea to study in the 1970s and 80s. During their stay, however, they were accused of being North Korean spies by the military dictatorship. They were detained without trial and brutally tortured. Of them, only around 30 have since been officially acquitted.

Korean citizens currently studying in Japan have also been taken aback.

“I had no idea that you had to notify the South Korean government every time you met with someone affiliated with Chongryon or the Chosen gakko,” said a Korean student enrolled in a PhD program in Tokyo.

“My studies require me to regularly meet with Chongryon members. Come on, this is 2023. Ridiculous,” the PhD student added. “I’ve never met with the Chongryon leadership, but a lot of Korean citizens are members of organizations with close ties to them. It’s not like people walk around with their affiliations and citizenship written on their foreheads. How am I supposed to know?”

At least half of the students enrolled in Chosen gakko are actually Korean citizens.

Article 9 of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act states that any South Korean citizen who intends to contact a resident of North Korea by means of meeting, communication, or other methods is required to make an advance report to the Minister of Unification. Article 30 of this legislation classifies any Chongryon member as a North Korean resident. The Unification Ministry has used this legislation to justify its controversial investigations, whose subjects include a filmmaker who made a documentary about the Chosen gakko, members of an activist group (Mongdang Pen) who have sponsored the Chosen gakko, and South Korean film actor Kwon Hae-hyo.

By Kim So-youn, Tokyo correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]