Ethnic Koreans in Japan who identify as people of Joseon featured in new photo book
- ‘Chosen-seki’ are descendants of Koreans who chose to stay in Japan after the Joseon dynasty fell in 1910
- They continued living in Japan as stateless aliens, enduring the consequences of negative stereotyping and even death threats
South Korean documentary photographer Kim Ji-youn was puzzled when she learned about a group in Japan called “Chosen-seki” (“Korean domicile”), the descendants of Koreans who migrated to Japan before its surrender in 1945.
Unlike the Japan-born Zainichi-Koreans who are legal residents in Japan, Chosen-seki identify themselves as people from Joseon, the dynasty that existed in the Korean peninsula from 1392 until 1910 when Korea was annexed by Japan. They continued living in Japan as stateless aliens, enduring the consequences of negative stereotyping.
Chosen-seki children are often bullied due to their parents’ vulnerable legal status. For adults, discrimination is part of life and some even fall victim to death threats or hate crimes, as they may be accused of being linked with North Korea.
The hostility of the Japanese right-wing towards descendants of Korean migrants reaches its peak whenever North Korea attempts to display a show of might by test-firing missiles over the East Sea or by conducting nuclear tests.
Some Chosen-seki schoolgirls have even experienced their uniforms being slashed with knives wielded by Japanese right-wing extremists.
Curious about their “self-chosen persecution”, Kim sat down with several Chosen-seki during her trip to Fukushima in 2011.