Homeland’s turn to answer to Zainichi

KIM HYUN-YE
The author is a Tokyo correspondent of the JoongAng Ilbo.

“My brother was a good student. He wanted to work for a trading company after graduating from a national university, as an older student said it was possible. But he did not pass the interview. The older student visited him at home and explained the reason. The problem was his nationality. ‘You were okay, but your nationality was not.’ My brother went missing for half a year and eventually came back.”

If your long-awaited employment failed because of your nationality, not capability, how would you feel? It sounds unlikely these days, but this pain is real for the ethnic Korean residents in Japan, called Zainichi. Toyo University sociology professor Kim Tae-young said on Oct. 8 that the discrimination and suffering that Zainichi have experienced in Japanese society for a century were expressed in the form of suicide.

“The number of suicides of South and North Korean nationals living in Japan is higher than that of the Japanese. It is also higher than that of those in South Korea. Why is this happening?” Professor Kim started to pay attention to this issue because of a series of suicides by Zainichi. He was shocked that the people who passionately led the festival in Ikuno Ward in Osaka for a long time took their own lives. The ward has a large population of Zainichi.

Suicides were committed more by the second generation Zainichi than the first gen, who came to Japan during the Japanese occupation. But neither the embassy nor private groups could help those standing on the brink.

While the “lifeline” for suicide prevention exists in Japan, it was not a place for Zainichi, who are neither Japanese nor Korean, to seek help. Professor Kim created a self-help group with an email, zainichimental@gmail.com, and online meetings. About 10 men and women get together online once a month and listen to each other’s stories.

Prof. Kim asks, “What is a country? What is a homeland? Zainichi are living in a desperate environment and have a pain called the Zainichi syndrome. I hope the Zainichi reality could be understood, and they are told what a homeland really means.”

The Overseas Koreans Agency was established in June. On Oct. 5, President Yoon Suk Yeol attended the Korean Day event and said nine out of 10 missions in Japan were built with donations by the Korean Japanese. If his promise to “expand the playground for 7.5 million overseas Koreans to play together” is not in vain, it is the homeland’s turn to answer.