Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, commonly known by its Korean-
language abbreviation Chongryon, which took shape in the aftermath of the Korean
War.
Made up largely of citizens of the prewar united Korea who did not elect to
take up South Korean nationality—the only Korean government Japan would re-
cognize—the organization had socialist leanings and quickly allied itself with North
Korea, launching a campaign to persuade Korean immigrants to restart their lives in
the “workers' paradise.” Nearly 90,000 followed the call, some bringing Japanese
spouses, but many met only hardship, starvation, and if they voiced discontent with
the situation, imprisonment.
Although it has branches throughout Japan that provide services such as employ-
ment assistance and legal advice to Korean residents, and runs schools and banks,
Chongryon is much more than a community organization. With Pyongyang and
Tokyo maintaining no official ties, the group functions as a sort of de facto North
Korean embassy, and contributions from its members and businesses are a major
source of cash for the reclusive state.
Unfortunately for North Korea, Chongryon's influence seems to be on the wane.
The group's core message of Koreans retaining their independence and identity
has started to ring hollow with young Koreans assimilating relatively easily into a
more accepting Japanese mainstream, and fewer parents want to send their children
through Chongryon's schools, which base their curricula on North Korea's rigid state
ideology. Mindan, another ethnic Korean association with ties to South Korea, now
has a higher portion of Japan's Korean population as members.
Public fatigue with (relatively) left-wing presidents led to the election of former tycoon
Lee Myung-bak in 2007, who won office on pledges for a business-friendly administration
that would revitalize the economy. Lee's admirers credit him with keeping the country on
a relatively even keel throughout the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and boosting South
Korea's international profile by hosting events like the G20 summit of world leaders in
2010. He also did much to restore South Korea's frayed ties with Washington, not least
finalizing a free trade pact with the United States that came into effect in 2012. Others,
however, charge him with coddling big business and adopting an overly hard-line stance on
North Korea that has left inter-Korean relations at their frostiest in decades. In December
2012, voters took the landmark step of electing the country's first female president, Park
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