By Kim Young-jin
From Japan’s colonization of Korea to the division of the peninsula, the scars of conflict run deep in Northeast Asia. As much as anyone, ethnic Koreans in Japan still feel the turbulence of that past.
Korean-Japanese, or “Zainichi,” say they face discrimination in their country due to ethnicity and remain divided between supporting North and South Korea. The conditions have prompted some to speak up about the need for Korean unification and raise funds to prepare.
“The irony about our situation of division and discrimination is that it translated into stronger patriotism and attachment to our motherland,” said Oh Gong-tae, president of the central head office of Mindan, the main union of Zainichi supporting the South, in an interview last week. “We want to do our part for unification.”
Oh, who led a delegation to Seoul for a conference of the National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC), an organization under Cheong Wa Dae, said he has raised over $5,000 to contribute to the Lee Myung-bak administration’s proposed “unification jar” which if approved by the National Assembly would collect preparation funds.
Calling the amount a “symbolic beginning,” Oh said he would launch a nationwide campaign to raise $250,000 upon returning to Japan.
Analysts widely agree on the need to begin preparing for unification, projected to cost between $50 and $224 billion, though some differences remain over methods. The jar is intended to collect for the first year of unification.
Oh said the Japanese branch of the NUAC which is tied to Mindan, was the first to pledge to contribute to the proposed jar — right after President Lee announced his pledge to donate a month’s salary.
Last month Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik visited North Gyeongsang Province to make an actual jar to symbolize the fund. Japan’s NUAC branch followed suit finding a traditional jar for its own fundraising.
For Zainichi, division has been the norm: Opposite of Mindan is Chongryon, the union which backs Pyongyang and has ties to the regime.
Oh said that Tokyo-Pyongyang tensions, especially over Japanese nationals abducted by the Stalinist state, often cause ill feelings among Japanese, which spill over to both factions.“They don’t distinguish because we all look alike and have similar heritage,” he said.
Kim Mi-kyoung, a professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute and a NUAC member, said unification would ease concerns over North Korean human rights, adding some 200 Zainichi escaped from the North after moving there voluntarily.
Zainichi say they still experience discrimination due to the remnants of colonialism, barred from government positions and facing disadvantages in employment. Unification would increase their political sway as a unified Korea would represent a more powerful nation, Kim said.
She noted it was not the first time for overseas Koreans to pitch in for their cultural homeland during tough times, citing their assistance during the colonial period as well as during the economic crisis of the late 1990s. “It’s a continuation of that legacy,” she said of the fundraising.
However, it appears that healing still needs to occur for Zainichi. Oh noted that due to cultural and language differences, Korean-Japanese feel a hint of separateness when among other Koreans.
“The legacy of colonialism makes us different,” he said. “We had to hide our ethnicity because of oppression. But a unified Korea will give us a bigger sense of pride and, I hope, bring us all closer together.”