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发帖数: 562 | 1 忠于北朝鲜的日本朝鲜族人
Inside the classroom of the North Korean school in Tokyo
By Rachel Mealey in Tokyo
Updated 32 minutes ago
A teacher wearing a pink traditional dress from North Korea stands in front
of a blackboard filled with algebra.PHOTO: The teacher wears traditional
dress from North Korea while educating the students. (ABC News)
MAP: Japan
Algebra is a universal language.
A rosy-cheeked young teacher is instructing her class in the finer points of
x and y and attempting to explain just what to do with those pesky brackets.
But that's about all that's familiar in this classroom. The teacher is
speaking Korean and wearing the traditional dress of North Korea.
She reaches up to write on the blackboard directly under two portraits on
the wall. The smiling faces of the late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and
Kim Jong-il look down on her class of 16 and 17-year-olds.
But this is not downtown Pyongyang — it's Tokyo.
PHOTO: Students at the North Korean school in Japan speak of Korea as a "
motherland". (ABC News)
The portrait of the current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un hasn't been
added to the wall… yet.
The school says he hasn't made a statement specifically acknowledging the
North Korean community in Japan, but if he does, his portrait will be added.
Dean of studies Kim Seng-fa says the school was established in 1945 by the
Korean community in Japan, many of whom had been forcibly removed from Korea
to become labourers in Japanese factories.
PHOTO: Kim Seng-fa is the dean of studies at the North Korean school in
Japan. (ABC News)
"They didn't want their children to grow up in Japan without knowing their
native language. The Korean School started as people wanted to learn the
Korean characters, culture and customs," he said.
Seventy-one years later, the school is a strange place.
The students speak of Korea as a "motherland" and seem to ignore the fact
that it was divided after the Korean War.
As well, they say Kim Jong-un is a good leader, not a dictator, and reports
about human rights abuses are just Western propaganda.
Koreans living in Japan face discrimination
Sixteen-year-old Chong Soni said North Korea was being misrepresented to the
rest of the world.
"I think all the Japanese media coverage is wrong," she said.
"I've been to Korea once and the country was nothing like what it's being
shown in the media. Japanese media only says negative things and I think
they're wrong."
Many Koreans living in Japan face discrimination.
PHOTO: Chong Soni believes North Korea is being misrepresented. (ABC News)
Japan does not allow for dual citizenship and makes would-be citizens
renounce the country of their forebears.
Successive South Korean governments have also made life difficult for
expatriate Koreans who want to live in another country, but want to hold on
to their South Korean passport.
Gesturing to the portraits on the wall, Chong Soni said many people in the
Korean community in Japan "feel" more North Korean.
"These two leaders helped us when we were having the most difficult time in
Japan. So our Korean compatriots living in Japan consider North Korea their
home country," she said.
PHOTO: A teacher teaches algebra while portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong
-il look down on her. (ABC News)
Seventeen-year-old Ryong Chi Hyon agreed with his classmate.
He said he was only a little bit concerned about the possibility of a war on
the Korean peninsula.
"Recently, they've been testing missiles and I think the technology is
developing. I hope North Korea will work hard to further develop our nation,
" he said.
"Nations like the US which North Korea is confronting has technical strength
, I hope North Korea will develop more technology so it can defend itself
from those nations."
PHOTO: School student Ryong Chi Hyon talks about how North Korea is
developing its nation. (ABC News)
Teacher Mr Kim said he allowed the students to think for themselves and does
not teach that Kim Jong-un is an unelected dictator.
"In my mind, I don't really see it as a dictatorship," he said.
"Mr [US President Donald] Trump is coming to Japan as a state guest. It's
good to talk with many people about how to resolve the issue in the Korean
peninsula but we don't want him to talk about how to put pressure on [North]
Korea." |
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