Japan’s North Korean schools lose funding, face closure amid concerns over propaganda in curriculum

The funding cut for Chongryon facilities is discriminatory and shows Japan does not want any North Korean schools in the country, one academic says

But conservatives applaud the decision to withdraw support, saying spending money on such schools is ‘tantamount to benefiting a dictatorial regime’

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Students take an exam as portraits of late North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are seen in a classroom at a Korean school in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:00pm, 24 Mar 2024

Local governments across Japan are cutting the financial support for schools operated by Chongryon, the association of North Korean residents in the country, spurred on by concerns their curriculum portrays Pyongyang in a positive light and about the misuse of public funds – leaving many of the schools struggling to stay open.

A shortage of funds is already biting in some areas, with supporters of the Fukuoka Korean Academy, in southern Japan, launching a petition on the Change.org website on March 4 appealing for people to back their request that the city council reverse a decision to reduce the school’s budget for the coming financial year.

On February 20, the city’s initial budget proposed support of 1.1 million yen (US$7,275) for the school for the academic year that starts on April 1, a contraction of more than 38 per cent from the previous year.

The Korea University in Tokyo, Japan, is the only overseas tertiary level educational institution affiliated with North Korea in the world. Photo: Facebook

The petition – signed by 5,269 people and submitted to the city council on March 12 – claimed that only North Korea-affiliated schools had been excluded from a 2010 law that guaranteed support for private high schools and said without the funds, the school “will be forced to face a financial crisis”.

Members of the North Korean community in Japan say the impact of reduced support is already being widely felt, with a number of schools forced to amalgamate their operations and others closing.

“It is becoming more difficult,” admitted Han Gyon-hui, a professor of library and information studies at Korea University, in the west Tokyo suburb of Kodaira, the only overseas tertiary-level educational institution affiliated with North Korea in the world.

“There are parents here who are Korean and they want their own children to grow up being Korean even though they live in Japan,” she said. “People are worried about the funds, of course, but I believe that even if local governments do cut the support, parents and our compatriots will step in to help the schools.”