North Korean Propaganda in the Japan Times

The Japan Times ran an article yesterday in which Jason Williams, an English teacher at a North Korean school in Okayama Prefecture, argues that such schools play a positive role for ethnic Koreans in Japan. Williams spends a significant portion of the article trying to downplay his school’s ties to Pyongyang:

In the teachers’ room there are pictures of the late North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung and his son, current leader Kim Jong Il, which surprised me the first time I saw them. However, they are the only ones I have seen in the school.

“From the beginning, North Korea has given a lot of funding, educational aid like musical instruments, and concern to the schools,” explains Pak.

Conversations I have with teachers tend to focus on current events and culture rather than politics. The one time a political topic did come up was after the admission of the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea. I taught at the school just after this news broke and the staff all expressed seemingly honest shock and sincere remorse and regret. They seemed to be just as surprised as everyone else I knew. Nobody denied the facts of these incidents as many Japanese people I have talked to believe.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., teachers and students expressed shock and worry, asked if my family and friends were OK and offered me, an American, their condolences.

I have seen no flags, military drills, marches or propaganda at the school. The only open, perhaps hopeful, political statement I see are maps of the Korean Peninsula that have no border separating North and South.

“The relationship between the North and South is better than most Japanese people think,” argues Pak.

I have noticed that everyone refers to themselves, their clothes, language and customs as “Korean” — not “North” or “South,” just “Korean.”

“The term ‘pro-Pyongyang’ (for Chongryun) is not completely appropriate,” says Pak. “Everyone in Chongryun and all people who send their children to our schools do not necessarily support the North. Some people simply place an importance on Korean ethnicity and identity, support our curriculum, and emphasize ties among community members.”

It would seem the Mr. Williams has either missed some of the obvious facts about Chongryun schools in Japan, or he is intentionally spreading a pro-Pyongyang message that he supports.

Mr. Williams doesn’t mention that the entire curriculum at the Chongryun (Chosen Soren) schools is officially approved by the North Korean regime. Including a quote about the Chongryun not being pro-Pyongyang is borderline stupidity. North Korean schools in Japan aren’t just there to preserve language and ethnic identity in the Zainichi community, they’re organs that bring children up to support the North Korean regime. The millions of dollars in currency and goods that Chongryun members in Japan send to North Korea are a major source of income an luxury for Kim Jong-Il’s murderous regime. It goes without saying that many of these Chongryun members were educated at North Korean schools such as the one Williams serves.

Williams is correct when he states that many Chongryun members were shocked that North Korea had abducted Japanese citizens. However, he fails to mention that membership in their organization and affiliated schools took a major drop that incident, as some Chongryun members realized they could no longer support the insane regime in Pyongyang. I guess that wasn’t relevant to his overall argument that Chongryun schools are not as pro-Pyongyang as the Japanese media claims.

If you want to know more about this issue, I suggest you take a look at wikipedia’s entry on Chongryon or its information page at FAS. According to wikipedia, Chongyron schools teach “a strong pro-North Korean ideology and allegiance to Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il.” [Although the photos of the dear leader and his pop in the teacher's office should have left little doubt of this to Mr. Williams.]

I’ll end this entry with a photo of the 2004 Chongryun congress held in Tokyo:

Do you see anything in that picture that might indicate the organization is pro-Pyongyang?

[via Marmot's Hole]