North Koreans find unlikely allies in fight to save Tokyo school

North Korean residents of Japan have found unlikely support from a group of politicians from Seoul who have vowed to help defend a school that teaches Pyongyang's doctrines in Tokyo.

Tokyo's nationalist governor, Shintaro Ishihara, wants to tear down the Edagawa Chosun School in central Koto ward.

Supporters are hoping to stave off a city government lawsuit demanding the return of the site, as well as 400 million yen ($27.7 million) in compensation for what it claims is illegal use of the land since the lease expired in 1990.

The lawsuit was launched after Mr Ishihara requested in 2003 that the Koreans pay back rent and buy the land - for a whopping 1.3 billion yen - or return it to the city.

The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, which is allied with North Korea, operates the school and says it has neither the funds to pay nor the obligation.

Its backers agree. 'It has been 100 years since Japan started its colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and 40 years since Tokyo and Seoul established diplomatic relations, but still our people face discrimination and problems in Japan,' said Yoo Ki-hong, a member of South Korea's Uri Party.

He was part of a delegation from the South that visited the school last week.