Following World War II, thousands of ethnic Koreans were left in Japan when the peninsula was split
Prior to the end of World War II, there was no North or South Korea. There was only one nation, occupied by Japan. When Tokyo surrendered to Allied forces in 1945, the peninsula was split in two at the 38th parallel, and thousands of ethnic Koreans were left in Japan.
In the decades since, many of their descendants have decided to stay and currently number over 600,000.
While there are several ethnic Korean groups registered in Japan, two receive the majority of the attention.
Established in 1946, the Mindan group has ties to South Korea, while the Chongryon has closer ties to North Korea. Roughly 65 percent of ethnic Koreans affiliate themselves with Mindan and 25 percent are members of the latter.
Grant Newsham, a senior research fellow with the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies in Tokyo, said historically, both groups focused on wanting “their members to get along in life [in Japan] comfortably.”
“As the generations pass,” he said, “the younger people of both organizations seem to [have] less of a political angle… less commitment to the motherland [and] the fatherland than there than there used to be.”
Newsham asserts that is a natural progression of events as the descendants spend more time in Japan and become integrated into its society.
Mindan’s role
Mindan’s self-described role is to connect the Japanese Korean diaspora with their homeland and, according to its website, operates under five principles to support South Korea’s domestic and foreign policies.
“Although we live in Japan, we are overseas citizens with Korean nationality.
