On 3 November 2022, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee issued the "Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Japan for the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)." [1] The Zainichi Korean Human Rights Forum was held on 27 May 2023 in Osaka City to reflect on the contents of this UN document. The forum gathered representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that submitted reports on human rights issues affecting Zainichi Koreans[2] in Japan to the Human Rights Committee for its examination. One hundred twenty participants and thirty online participants attended the forum. The first part of the forum consisted of reports from six organizations, while the second part consisted of a panel discussion.
Highlights of the Reports
Jinung Kwak (Korea NGO Center) presented a report on educational rights of ethnic minorities. He emphasized right to education as a human right protected under Article 27 of the ICCPR and stressed the significant role of the ethnic classes held mainly in Osaka Prefecture where the largest number of Zainichi Koreans live. Ethnic classes have provided Zainichi Korean children opportunities to learn Korean language and enjoy Korean culture. Although there were some questions raised at the Osaka Prefectural Assembly that deny and distort the significance of ethnic classes, Kwak stated that their role as a place for all children is becoming even more important amid the rapid increase in the number of children with foreign origins.
Seung-hyeon Lee (Osaka Human Rights Association for Korean Residents in Japan) discussed the predicament faced by Korean schools in Japan. He criticized institutional oppressions such as exclusion from national subsidy for secondary schools to support free education for Zainichi Korean children attending Korean schools as well as exclusion from local government subsidies. He also discussed the underlying social exclusion manifested in prejudice and hostile language and behavior toward Korean schools and their students, often labeling them as "spies from North Korea."
Fumio Oishi (Kanagawa MINTOREN) revealed that less than 30 percent of local governments have no restrictions on appointing foreign nationals including Zainichi Koreans as public officials. Oishi also mentioned the payment gap, such as in the teaching profession in public schools, where foreign nationals are subject to restrictions on promotion and lesser pay. A lifetime earning of foreign nationals is around twenty million Japanese Yen less compared to that of Japanese nationals.
Myong-ae Chong (National Network for the Total Abolition of the Pension Citizenship Clause) spoke on the exclusion of disabled and elderly foreign nationals from the pension system. When the Japanese government abolished the nationality clause of the National Pension Plan in 1982, it failed to provide any relief to those who had already reached the age at which they could no longer meet the coverage requirements for pension benefits, leaving them without pension to this day.
As for hate speech against Zainichi Koreans, Sang-gyun Kim (Association for Effective Hate Speech Countermeasures in Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto City) acknowledged some progress since the enactment of the Hate Speech Elimination Law (2016), as shown in decrease in the number of hate speech demonstrations, even though the societal context that had been breeding hate remained strong. He also noted that hate speech acts that took place in election campaigning had become more serious in recent years. As for hate crimes against Zainichi Koreans, he recalled the 2021 arson case in the Utoro district, a Korean residential area in Kyoto. It was a hate crime committed by a young man who was driven by feelings of victimization and righteous indignation aroused by online fake news. At first, however, the investigative authorities did not consider the possibility of arson and assumed that the fire was caused by electric leakage, blaming a resident, the victim. Considering the hate speech situation, Kim emphasized the essential need for a) the government to issue an appropriate statement against hate crimes immediately after the incident or final court decision, b) the court to consider the discriminatory motive in sentencing responsibility, and c) the adoption of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law.
Regarding suffrage, Gyu-seop Lee (former President of Hyogo Prefectural Headquarters, Korean Residents Union in Japan) argued that granting local suffrage to Zainichi Koreans was in line with the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the UN Human Rights Committee, and that sending the social message that Zainichi Koreans were a part of the community was important.
Panel Discussion
In the second part of the Forum, five panelists discussed several themes including judicial decisions on human rights violations against Zainichi Koreans and their limitations, Japanese xenophobia and racism from historical and structural perspectives.
Panel discussion
One of the five panelists, Koonae Park (Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center [HURIGHTS OSAKA]), a third generation Korean in Japan, discussed ethnic and gender-based compounding/ intersectional discrimination experienced by Zainichi Korean women. She, together with small group of Zainichi Korean women, needed to do the research from scratch on their own because they could not find any prior research or proper survey conducted on the issue. She also touched on the gender norms oppressive to women in Zainichi Korean society, citing the example of Jesa, a Korean traditional ceremony as a memorial to the ancestors, where in some families only men were given ritualistic roles while the women were still expected to prepare and serve the dishes.
The Forum concluded with a report and call for action against the revision of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act that would constitute a major setback for the human rights situation of migrants especially asylum seekers and persons without legal status. [3]
Rimyong Park is a program staff of HURIGHTS OSAKA
For further information, please contact HURIGHTS OSAKA.
[1] Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Japan, Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/JPN/CO/7, 30 November 2022, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR%2FC%2FJPN%2FCO%2F7&Lang=en．
[2] Zainichi Koreans are ethnic Koreans who permanently reside in Japan and who came from Korea when it was under Japanese rule (1910-1945).
[3] The Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act was revised on 9 June 2023.