Why nearly 100,000 people left Japan to move to North Korea

[@Flyinghigh3597]

After the Korean War and in 1950s, North Korea received very much aid from the Soviet Union and China to rebuild their war destroyed country. At the same time Japan in 1950s was very difficult to live, it was like a third world country in rebuilding program. That's why many Japanese or Korean ethnic Japanese fled to North Korea for a better living. North Korea had a higher living standard than People's Republic of China until 1970s. North Korea was like East Germany that a communist country needs to be stability because they are the frontlier and bulwark against the West infiltration or invasion. But things changed dramatically in 1980s when China open the door to the West and the deterioration of Soviet Union. After losing Soviet aid in 1990 and the development of nuclear weapons in North Korea, their economy turned to worse and became a total poverty. But the Japanese xenophobic culture and racism in Japan was also the reasons why many Koreans chose to go back to North Korea, their ancestry root were in Korea's northern province so they couldn't goto South Korea.

[@twist777hz]

They couldn't go to South Korea because South Korea refused to accept them.

[@ThawZinMyo-gw3zz]

Thanks for your summary

[@Truthseeker371]

At least, they had made the choice by themselves. They were not abducted by the NK spies, unlike the Japanese abductees still missing in NK. Many NKoreans decided to remain in Japan, though they were descriminated and still are. In life, making a decision depends totally up to an individual. For that matter, we have to gather information and do homework sufficiently. Blaming others is our most common habit. We all have to face the consequences. Many Japanese wives of the NK residents in Japan also followed to repatriate in the NK. Very few of them could return to Japan. Most of them have lived and also suffered the hardship there.

[@sinoroman]

since Japan and South Korea became juniors under USA, they were then heavily subsidized by America

[@user-nnn2gf6oo7f]

嘘つきは中国人の国技

[@FriendlyYandere]

I remember the story about a group of people that left Japan to go to North Korea, only 1 manage to get back to Japan and regret ever going there in the first place, she left flowers at the dock that she left Japan from to mourn her friends who had died and still stuck in North Korea.

[@sextempiric7137]

Story told by one traitor and published by propagandist?

[@topglobal6675]

*source : trust me bro 🗿

[@xLuis89x]

@@topglobal6675 would not be weird, bruh, N . korea is not a safe place to live in, at all

[@joshua-jayechan465]

source: trust me bro 🗿@@xLuis89x

[@happycook6737]

💔😭

[@jont2576]

i mean they were not wrong,in the 1960s in the aftermath of the war north korea was paradise compared to south korea.

[@intreoo]

Yep. Additionally, the Korean peninsula's industry and natural resources were primarily in the North, not to mention they directly bordered China and the USSR, easing trade. They were poised to do much better than South Korea, but obviously, that never happened.

[@sado429]

No one could've imagined back then that South Korea will surpass North Korea the way they did today. We can't blame them for choosing North Korea sadly ...

[@marisakirisame8543]

When the most powerful country sanctions you for decades, you'll fall behind no matter what.

[@fukinyouup]

@CommunistBot nothing makes me laugh harder than watching commies try to spin north korea into a success story

[@robertchen1780]

i think it would be a real paraidse if there were no sanction on north korea and people be eating there fills and have medical equipment

[@Marisanrisa]

The opposite sorta happened to my great grandparents. My great grandparents were Japanese living in what would be considered now North Korea, during the war. Once the war ended, my great grandfather was taken by the Soviet Union and was placed on a train to Serbia. He sensed that he was in danger and jumped out of the train, walking back home through the snow. He miraculously got back without losing a limb (he did have to amputate his toes years later from the frost bite though) and word spread about the soviets coming back for the rest. Many Japanese people traveled south of Korea, some leaving their kids believing that they may pass as Korean and live a better life. My great grandparents took their kids and traveled south. They got scammed when they tried to purchase a boat to japan. But later, the Japanese government sent a ship, allowing the Japanese people to come back to japan. My mother would tell me this story, which she heard from my grandmother, along with some additional information she found from research. Due to trauma, my great grandfather never talked about his experience in Serbia or the walk back, leaving only speculations.

[@stefanmarinov5515]

Walking from Serbia to Japan? You sure it wasn't Siberia? Serbia is in Europe

[@kadventure]

Pretty sure i'ts Siberia, not Serbia though.

[@marcinna8553]

Informative video. I lived in Japan for about a decade and always found this subject confusing. A co-worker of mine was a Korean medical doctor, born in Japan and who had only a Korean passport. He would joke to me that he had to live a clean life; if he committed any crime he could be deported to Korea, a country he barely knew. Near some Korean schools I would see signs reminding people not to discriminate. So clearly there were problems around the schools. Coming from the US it was hard to understand how families could live for multiple generations in a country and not have citizenship rights. I would think dual citizenship would help in this situation, but neither Korea nor Japan allows this (technically, you can have both Japanese and a North Korean passports, but this is only because Japan does not recognize North Korea as a sovereign state, and so considers its passports invalid.). How odd to live in this kind of nether world where you don't belong to a country you grew up in.

[@WokOverEasy]

I’d learn Korean and leave. Korea is successful now so there isn’t even a reason to stay in a country who won’t give you acceptance and other benefits of citizenship.

[@effingcool1780]

There are actually many countries with such law in Asia not only in Japan. You are considered as a citizen only if at least one of your parent is a citizen. Your birth place doesn't matter,only your ethnicity. On the other hand they don't consider foreigners that were born in their country as their citizen. Even after living there for few generations they would be non citizen because of their ethnicity , so it is hard.

[@TheRealNicholeta]

In the US there are daca recipients who are people brought to the U.S. as children and didn’t have an option to apply for citizenship. To this day they are not considered full U.S. citizens nor do that have a pathway for that

[@muuttohaukka0320]

@@effingcool1780 That’s not entirely true. People still have a choice. While a Japanese nationally is only given automatically if your parents are Japanese, you can still apply to be naturalized in Japan. The Korean Japanese people who grew up in Japan are likely qualified (there are a few criteria like living in Japan 5 consecutive years etc.) Every year people chose to get Japanese citizenship. FYI, 43% of naturalized citizens in Japan in 2021 were the ethnic Koreans, and majority of them were those who grew up in Japan. Those who stay non-Japanese for a few generations are doing so by their own choice for different reasons.

[@effingcool1780]

@@muuttohaukka0320 i was talking about my country not Japan. It is also homogeneous asian country and doesn't accept foreigners.

[@user-vy1en9nl3o]

My grandmother's aunt's family moved to California from Japan before World War II, Even their parents and other family members stopped them, They didn't listen, and all of them survived WW2 at there. However, all of my grandmother's family who remained in Japan died during WW2, except my grandmother who was 6 years old and my grandmother's sister who was 4 years old. Ultimately, I think people have to decide themself where you live. I think no one can take responsibility for others future.

[@S.huddo-db3ew]

To many People always think they can be responsible for other peoples futures without asking

[@yo2trader539]

Korean peninsula was untouched by WWII. It was the Korean War in the 1950s that did the damage.

[@sirebellum0]

Disagree significantly but not fully. There is an onus on individuals themselves, but when you have propaganda, secrets, and lies heavily orchestrated to influence one's decision, I don't think that should be underestimated

[@gera.w]

the fact that they even loved her smell, this really hit me, you can feel how hopeless and desperate they were

[@condorX2]

It's really hard to tell who's doing the propaganda. A Korean woman pretending to be Japanese just to fit in or this video 😅

[@budhikarya7221]

Our smell is a thing. Doctor know our illness by sensing our smell. This video tell us our smell defined our economic status etc etc

[@gordonwong2798]

It's more about the many things that they can't say in North Korea. So they could only make reference to her smell.

[@Garbeaux.]

I can’t imagine going to live in another country I know very little about. It would be like if white Americans went back to a Europe country or black Americans to an African country. Our cultural and familial ties to those places would have been broken generations ago. Even though we have ancestry in those places, it would still be a foreign country to us.

[@Nn.65juk]

It is logic......nothing else.

[@Sandalleno33-uw2ix]

@@Nn.65jukwhat an almost glass-shattering statement

[@MrFreeman0179]

"... live in another country..." Europe and Africa aren't countries.

[@kassaken6521]

​​@@MrFreeman0179Dude, pretty sure he meant European countries and African Countries, not the actually continents themselves...

[@Garbeaux.]

@@MrFreeman0179 lol. Trying so quick to correct someone when you’re wrong. Did you not see where I said European country? Or African country?! Come on now.

[@farmboy_bry]

I bet most of those people, alive or gone, thought once that that was the biggest mistake of their life.

[@heyking8583]

Current north korea better than japan

[@adelalmohtaseb5261]

For sure @@heyking8583

[@ZalmanFarisiUNAS]

Better died than being red

[@PositivelyPresent1]

@@heyking8583wow… are you for real ..!!!?

[@tenchichrono]

@@PositivelyPresent1it's real. NK > Japan.

[@jonathonmorin6820]

Music was mixed too loud I found it hard to hear some of the speaking

[@masa26762]

The personal takeaway is to choose a country not because of the living standard at the moment that can flip in 10 years, but the country that lets you leaves again if choose to.

[@SWiseman]

Choose freedom over promises.

[@robertzoufood]

The only problem was that both North Korea and South Korea were dictatorships. Just one that was more communist and one that was more fascist.

[@Melcor2304]

6:00 the grandmother was a smart cookie, she was rather spot on.

[@sriharshacv7760]

Right from the beginning of the video, I was suspecting Japanese govt. to be complicit, given the general xenophobia. Nobody is particularly innocent. I heard many racist / xenophobic horror stories from Indians who live in S. Korea too. Everyone likes to blame Westerners but many Asian countries & Eastern Europeans are way more xenophobic than we give them 'credit' for.

[@DeathNikkii]

Indians do the same. Every country in Asia hates each other.

[@IHighscoredYourGirl]

just live amongst your own people man. then nobody will be racist towards you

[@ujangbahagia7367]

not everyone is open to Globalization and not every same race leaders is suitable so they got no choice and move to another country

[@yo2trader539]

It's not our job to prevent Koreans from returning to their homeland. If an Indian immigrant wants to return to India, so be it.

[@Decster4everer]

@@IHighscoredYourGirl How many generations until you are considered one of us/welcomed?

[@signupisannoying]

Just one bad decision causes whole family and their future descendands endless suffering and no way out.

[@PCBmanufacturer1]

It is horrible to hear about that, Thanks for sharing the story, Otherwise, it would be totally forgotten

[@samdawolf]

crazy how many things like this we never hear about, very well made thanks

[@lenawagenfuehr53]

No, the videos are not well made. Tone the music down - it's like cheap propaganda

[@byoung8918]

It's somewhat astonishing to see that two countries from opposing political affiliations could cooperate in secret to oversee such a humanitarian disaster. I guess again it just shows eventually it's social class that devides people, instead of culture, nation, religion or ideology. The ruling class could do anything to reinforce their own interest, be it waging wars or reach agreement with the opposing force. In this very incident, of course North Korean government obtained "costless" labors while Japanese government got rid of unwanted population. Win-win for the ruling classes on both sides.

[@SamGarcia]

Oh my goodness, finding something against communism where that wasn't the original cause, it was racism, since it affected Koreans of all social classes.

[@lukerinderknecht2982]

Well put

[@yo2trader539]

They are ethnic Koreans who wanted to return to their homeland. There was no reason for Japan to block their return.

[@shin-ishikiri-no]

@@SamGarcia The race isn't that different actually. More like culturalism. Also, why are you so defensive over communism?

[@TIm_Bugge]

Bootleggers and baptists. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6S0kJ6ee9J-qrcsi=tCT-8rNWHbdshsui

[@ntwadumela374]

this is incredible! without this video theres no way i would ever have thought this could have happened! what a story! thx for sharing

[@Julsdoy]

Well made, compelling and thought provoking short documentary. Congrats to SCMP, exceptionlly produced indeed.

[@apolakigamingandmore6376]

Exactly, this is a really great documentary, it's very interesting indeed. :)

[@davasaurthereal4678]

had absolutely no idea about anything discussed here, pretty amazing. and of course, amazing documentary by scmp 👍

[@DJPoundPuppy]

This video was incredible!

[@lenawagenfuehr53]

Nah...they need to tone down the music for a start, and their reports are very slanted, leaving out big factors. They're only scratching the surface...

[@ROBLOXGamingDavid]

I learned about Chongryon from Vox, and from other sources when i looked it up, some I could not trust and only read its headlines, but this one adds a bit more detail for me to learn more about ethnic Koreans in Japan.

[@jasminezhu6058]

Wow this was so interesting! Thank you for this great documentary!

[@CarolineNiggAyaLee-Janet]

You also have to remember, the fact that Ethnic Koreans associated themselves with North Korea in 70-80s unfortunately intensifies anti-Korean sentiment in Japan. They were seen as more untrustworthy because of their connection to NK government and the US-induced anti-communist education in Japan didn’t help either….

[@donaldmacdonald4901]

Japan hating education in North Korean schools in Japan probably doesn’t help either.

[@sextempiric7137]

Koreans associated themselves with Korea? That was a smart statement, I take my hat off to that.

[@nana7451]

@@sextempiric7137not korea, but north korea. There’s a difference

[@sextempiric7137]

@@nana7451 They are all Koreans drling!

[@nana7451]

@@sextempiric7137 yes, but seeing how North Koreans and South Koreans are like day and night, there’s a vast difference. There’s nothing wrong with Koreans associating themselves with Korea and Korean culture. But when they intentionally associate themselves with a country like North Korea and glorify the harmful idealogies of a communist dictatorship, you can’t blame people for seeing them as suspicious. It’s like walking into a bank wearing a balaclava and carrying a rifle, and then getting mad as to why people are finding you suspicious or dangerous. Seeing the amount of North Korean spies there are in East Asian countries like China, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia etc and the history of kidnappings and atrocities they have committed despite being on foreign soil, it really isn’t unnatural for locals to find them suspicious especially when they’re boasting about the country’s “greatness” and glorifying it’s disgusting regime in broad daylight.

[@MC36vgaming]

Thanks SCMP ,U explain lots of knowledge ❤!

[@Sjalabais]

There are a couple of KZbin videos on this topic already, but few with this much clarity. Japan really still has a lot of cleaning up to do regarding their WW2 and post war history.

[@BioluminescentTree]

What does this have to do with WW2, exactly??

[@yuhyi0122]

@@BioluminescentTree if they didn't wage war and colonize korea, would they got millions of korean in their soil? Not to mention after they lost, they threw the koreans like trash by making them foreigner, setting up policy against them, and lastly arranging them to the forsaken place like north korea

[@missalicesmiles]

​@@BioluminescentTreeI'm sure they meant WWII and post WWII as two separate issues. Maybe you didn't realize the atrocities the Japanese committed before and leading up to the war and how the government still isn't the most forthcoming

[@hilpha]

@@BioluminescentTree The fact that Japan annexed Korea in 1910 up to 1945 (which included both WW1 and WW2)?

[@yo2trader539]

They are Korean nationals. It's their choice to relocate to North or South Korea.

[@NyoungLover]

Great documentary, i didn't know this part of history existed. Thank you SCMP.

[@THErealOGse]

My heart breaks for Ms. Park. I cannot imagine what her life has been like and how she feels.

[@Ricky911_]

Sadly, the Japanese government was often run by ex-WW2 leaders throughout the 1950s. The PM from 1957-1960 (Nobusuke Kishi) is known for the atrocities he committed in Manchuria. I'm afraid a large part of the reason why Japan was fine with the immigration despite knowing how bad it was in North Korea is because they wanted to get rid of the Korean population

[@187Zaidan]

sauce?

[@Ricky911_]

@@187Zaidan Some things are fairly obvious, mate. Don't you find it strange how they knew all along what was happening in North Korea and they still let the ships go? Sounds very fishy to me

[@user-pn3im5sm7k]

The first prime minister of S. Korea was a Lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army

[@stevens1041]

You can look at the people convicted during the Tokyo Tribunal: you will see many Korean names along with Japanese. But one thing is accurate, Japanese don't want non-Japanese people living in their country. I lived in Japan for a while and found this to be true.

[@BlessAllKC]

What are the figures for : Cuba Pakistan Bangladesh Mauritius Russia Any of the ASEAN countries Any of the African countries Any of the South American countries Any of the Central American countries Any of the Carribean countries Any of the Pacific Island countries Any of the EU countries

[@juanritanjaya6254]

There was a similar repatriation program in South East Asia inviting chinese to return to Hong Kong or communist China. While they were not as harsh as conditions in North Korea, my grandparent’s family who moved back had a pretty tough time as well there. Glad my grandparents decided to stay.

[@tanyan6325]

Making a living in South East Asia is much easier compared to Taiwan or China. Competitions are not as bad. To even get into Public universities, they are numerous very smart people to compete with. Jobs, businesses are tougher, all harder working. SEAsians are a lot more laid back.

[@goyam2981]

My grandma went back to visit her family in China probably in the 90s. We heard about the bathrooms there and thanked our grandparents for migrating out of China. Imagine Andy Lau's movie Dances with Dragon. His character is mistaken for an illegal migrant swimmer from the mainland. Things have changed now but back then you wouldn't want to be in the mainland.

[@roboaxe6688]

Same with my grandparent but one of uncle did go back there now he is in beijing but they glad they choose to stay cause my great grandma bound feet make it hard for her to walk in her old age and at least live in indonesia that time not too harsh like in the mainland

[@sixtogonzaga655]

​@@roboaxe6688now its different people in the mainland are richer comlared to us filipino chinese. Most of my relatives now went back to china and theyre living better life than us here in the philippines

[@Justin87878]

almost 25 years later, things changed so drastically between Indonesia (according to your name) and China. My cousin now lives in China with her now husband. It is 100X more advanced than Indonesia.

[@dimitrimoonlight]

Please also take up the issue of the abduction of 17 Japanese by North Korea, which has not yet been resolved.😢

[@goblinsdammit]

This doc makes it sound like Zainichi were unable to get Japanese citizenship, but is that true? Couldn't they have Japanese citizenship if they gave up their Korean citizenship (since Japan doesn't allow dual citizenship)?

[@twist777hz]

Correct. Not only that, Zainichi Koreans have a fast-track to Japanese citizenship that's unavailable to other foreigners in Japan wishing to naturalize. The reason some Zainichi Koreans (remember: these people have no intention of ever returning to Korea) haven't taken up Japanese citizenship is that they believe it would dishonour their ancestors, not because there are legal roadblocks or institutional racism or whatever that prevent them from doing so.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

@@twist777hz thank you for sharing this vital piece of the puzzle! I did not know this.

[@hansfrankfurter2903]

Was that part of Japanese law back then or just now?@@twist777hz This doc clearly says they were citizenless after the war implying that they couldn't apply to Japanese citizenship or that it was virtually impossible to get it.

[@yo2trader539]

@@hansfrankfurter2903 The requirement bar is set at the lowest for Zainichi Koreans for naturalization. However, naturalization was a taboo for the Zainichi Korean community, because they dreamed to return to the Korean peninsula once unified. There is a famous soccer player by the name of LEE Tadanari (李忠成). He naturalized to Japanese citizenship and played for the Japanese national team. While he carried a South Korean passport before naturalization, he had a relative who played for the North Korean national team.

[@hansfrankfurter2903]

@@yo2trader539 that’s now, im taking about after WW2 up until the 80s.

[@SPLToronto]

I like that woman; she can think for herself yet trying to save others.

[@ThisVideoAnnoyedMe]

Um bro, there was no VHS in the 60s... should have used a different clip for that part...

[@pv-mm2or]

I was enjoying this documentary until distracted by the sound track music, It was like having someone trying to speak over and interrupting the speaker. Too much I will have to switch off!

[@Pinky-gj2dd]

Excellent video, but the background music is way too loud , at times it distracts so much you cannot pay attention to the video

[@sparemanedel5464]

This is so heart breaking.

[@JK-br1mu]

4:17 pure propaganda......N. Korea was never richer, and never had brighter prospects economically, although I'm sure some people were duped into believing it at the time.

[@admiralb2848]

Super video. Very thought provoking. Obviously Immigration/Emigration is often more complex than the simple explanations we see in the headlines.

[@GoldSpot-pf1yb]

Scmp must make more videos like this. Frankly I didn’t know all this.

[@KaotikBOOO]

You also forgot the massacres during the colonial era like the anti Korean pogroms after the Tokyo earthquake Koreans in Japan were pretty much treated the same as jews in Europe at that time so when you offer them to go back to where their ancestors were forcefully removed from, it seems like a not so bad option You also forgot that the south did the same mass executions than the north (jeju massacre for example) so really, at the time, it didn't seem that bad

[@jeanmiyu6904]

You also add the followings. After Russia revolution in 1919, some of Korean immigrants aviwed communism and did terrorist acts targeting Japanese Emperor and politicians. The terror acts were repeated since then. ’’Watch out Korean terrorists’’ was advocated at the time. In aftermath of Kanto Earthquake, Koreans have begun violating injured/dead women and stolen gold teeth from them in the circumstance that polices and firemen were so busy. Execution to such Koreans including doubtful ones has done by Japanese vigilantes. Criminals deserve death in difficult situation. Generally, Koreans were considered as ppls lacking moral sense in Japanese society of that time. Many official documents tell so.But Japanese adapted such Korean refugees from juju island and others at the time when mass massacre to communist Koreans including doubtful ones by Korean polices and young vigilantes in southern part of Korea peninsula before edtablishment of two nations. Korean Returnees with Japanese wives/husbands were miserable and unhappy. Bcuz most of Korean returnees originally came to JPN from southern part of Koreans.

[@KarelNg]

Ashaming for South Korea people today, they would like similiarity as Japanese even enter second class in Japan

[@cs0345]

@@ii4826 Jews served in high positions of power while being discriminated too

[@Yusuf-ok5rk]

​@@ii4826there were also jews in n*zi army. your example doesn't mean anything.

[@twist777hz]

This is just absurd hyperbole. Nothing remotely resembling the Holocaust took place on the Korean peninsula under Japanese rule.

[@Mr.User_7]

Interesting video but the background music is too loud.

[@futo]

it's shocking that it took 2006 to ban North Korean ships from their port, and the fact repatriation ended in 1984. Like how did the US not get involved in this and say to Japanese government for being aware of everything from the start

[@brendon1689]

why do you think? do you seriously think that the us wasn't aware? japan was under direct military occupation by the us for a time likely story is that the us knew and was perfectly fine with it so that their vassal remains loyal just like the soviets hated uprisings against their puppets, so too does the us

[@Flyingpotatos]

Yes. US is friend to Japan so there is no support for North korean.

[@Low_commotion]

As an American, my opinion is that if they really wanted to leave even in the 1980s when it was more obvious, they should be able to do so. That's the essence of freedom & liberalism, it's the only system that freely lets you turn your back on it without consequence (from the liberal society at least).

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Those individuals had probably already bought into socialist ideology at that point. They may have thought it would’ve been a liability to force them to stay. Very tragic for those souls. Should’ve intervened earlier.

[@hansfrankfurter2903]

Because both US and Japan don't care about Koreans.

[@janiskoh8393]

I would like to contact Ms. Park if she is living in Korea. My family is still in Tokyo and was involved with Japan's return to paradise scheme. Thank you for this informative program.

[@shio5186]

From what I've read, ethnic Koreans from both Japan and China immigrated to North Korea because NK was subsided by Soviet Union and quite doing well compared to Japan and China at that time. It's called returning to the paradise for a reason. Everyone wants to return to their homeland of course. There were also quite a number of South Koreans moving to NK at that time.

[@Iam-me]

War is scary

[@tristanlee6538]

i wonder if it so bad , why didn’t they move to south korea instead of north korea ? i don’t get the reason. was there no repartition for south korea ?

[@funkysagancat3295]

NK was way ahead at the time, looks like a very logical conclusion

[@DoneWithEvrything]

I had to read the title of this video twice. I have no words.

[@Propain4eva]

fr

[@AndrewHahaLee]

All history has been constantly telling us - that it's never about which political system runs which country. A system is just there as a tool. it's the values embraced by those who run them. Whether Monarchy, Democratic or even Communist, any leader who thinks only about himself will make any system work for his own agenda.

[@oxlip]

all history has been constantly telling us that large-scale communism always turns into a one-party dictatorship with awful human rights abuses and quality of life. capitalism is not perfect, but if one doesn't like life in a capitalist nation, they always have the option to leave. it's very clearly about which political system runs a country.

[@developersmith5329]

Japan is shown as the bad one here but don't forget South Korea wasn't really welcoming towards their own people and were just looking when Japan was sending them to North. I don't know but that's even worse. If I care about somebody I don't just look and mind my own business. That's just ignorant.

[@jihojio2118]

한국정부는 북한으로 보내는 것에 반대해서 일본에 테러를 하기도 했다네요. 실제로 한국으로 돌아온 재일 조선인도 많습니다. 이건 일본과 북한의 범죄 맞아요. 일본이 저지른 죄가 하도 많아서 이 정도는 뭐 한국인들이 크게 신경 쓰지 않는 정도라고 할 수 있죠. 적어도 죽이진 않았으니까

[@karlanderson6482]

That is wrong and bad explanation. The biggest reason why SouthKorea wasn't able to take people back from Japan was shut down of national relationship between South Korea and Japan(Because of grudge rooted from colonial period). Only after 1965(treaty of basic relationship) relationship between SK and Japan was possible. Tragedy of zainichi repatriation was all because of horrible Japanese government and redcross(a member of free world and who already knew malignancy of NK but hided it and let programme happen) and Kim il seong who officially call Japanese evil, but deal with them from behind.

[@zahiruddinzahid102]

@@jihojio2118😂😂😂 cap

[@chizukoallen3694]

@@karlanderson6482 Actually, Syngman Rhee was cold to Koreans living in Japan.

[@princesschariclea]

Thanks for the great short documentary SCMP! 🙏🏽🙏🏽 You sometimes don't know what to believe about North Korea. I wish that horrible dictatorship will soon end.

[@ex0duzz]

They wish your horrible evil gov would end too. Probably your whole evil country which bombed and destroyed every single house and structure in their country and killed 1/10th of all Korean civilians in the Korean war and arbitrarily split their country in half and divided them and still occupy half their country till today.

[@sjelucten7150]

Kim Jong Un, I heard, is not as bad as Joe Biden.

[@rauljosemenendez8083]

​@@sjelucten7150huh, it has nothing to do with Joe Biden lol

[@rauljosemenendez8083]

​@@sjelucten7150yet America is still #1 country XD

[@CT-69141]

@@sjelucten7150 praise him and follow him then, traitorous NK resident/followers cowards will not be tolerated

[@CharmingAthens]

That gamble didn't pay off. Ouch.

[@kbeautician]

😅😂I’m saying🥲😫😩Now they’re “victims”😢🥺😩

[@wicticsscareliageyt]

That’s horrifying

[@gabecodina]

The music is too loud, at least while you are talking

[@goldeneggduck]

Thanks I learnt something new.

[@Lexyvil]

I can already tell from the video title it wouldn't go to well...

[@phoso1]

Too complicated for me to understand, all human should have the right to travel freely without being bounded to one country.

[@Slava_Ukraini1991]

i agree. unfortunately some countries are so authoritarian and horrible to live in that if they allowed free travel, nobody would live there.

[@lenawagenfuehr53]

Oh stop pretending like this doesn't happen anywhere else. How welcoming is the USA to people fleeing drug cartels in central America?

[@Т1000-м1и]

North Korea and Iran are surprisingly interesting while also being terrifying

[@lenawagenfuehr53]

And the USA is held up as a shining light...🤮

[@alistairmcelwee7467]

Why not just give those being interviewed or narrating a megaphone each so that they can shout over the background music and be heard?

[@kbeautician]

Lol🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@kbeautician]

You coulda just said, The background music was too loud. But, you chose side splitting comedy🤣😂🤣😂

[@jelljelly4902]

how awful. all these governments and organizations. anything that has any power in the world are all such terrible people and prove to be time and time again.

[@cherylsemrau7100]

Please don't have music playing.

[@Funica11]

Surrendered Japan had no sovereignty until the San Francisco treaty in 1952. It was governed by the GHQ of the Allied Forces occupying Japan, D MacArthur who confiscated Japanese citizenship from Koreans and sent Koreans in Japan back to Korea, not the Japanese government. The Japanese government back then had no authority over it. The sovereignty was back subsequently to the SF treaty, yet it was only partial sovereignty, it was practically a puppet state owned by the US, an unsinkable aircraft career of the Cold War. Even today, Japan is still a puppet state owned by the US. Australian woman Suzuki is utterly incoherent and nonsense. Australia was the Allied Forces also occupying Japan under the control of D MacArthur. Thus it's the Australian government itself that confiscated the Japanese citizenships from Koreans. Also, Koreans themselves insisted on Korea's independence, not the Japanese. The Japanese government wanted to keep the Korean peninsula as part of Japan, yet it was defeated. Taiwan was a colony but Korea was just a part of Japan. Koreans in Japan insisted they were the victorious nationals who were equivalent to the Allied Forces, and then Koreans lynched and looted many Japanese, that's why D MacArthur had to declare that Koreans were not the victorious nationals, they were the nationals of the third country, Sangokujin who have no privilege over the Japanese, to keep the security of Japan. Koreas took advantage of being non-Japanese citizens by behaving like the victors of the Allied Forces anyway. You should know that the Pachinko parlors you often find in front of major rail stations in cities in Japan are run by Koreans with the land Koreans robbed from the Japanese landowners and the special permission given to Koreans by D MacArthur.

[@starsparklemonkey3390]

Okay weeboo.

[@leonjiang-kq2qo]

I want to know since when SCMP is more like VOA?

[@FireFr0ggy]

For such a polite country, Japan really never apologized for the horrors they inflicted on their Asian neighbors. Both directly and in secret deals.

[@中国新]

How much are you willing to bet on that statement? Are you willing to bet everything on that?

[@KIM72324]

The same happened in China within the Korean minority community too during that time.

[@TheFriend2u]

Prove with facts please before you just ape words of western mainstream media. The world is already chaotic with fabricated lies & deceit corrupted by printed USD.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

I did not know about this. During which years?

[@theinvisibilitycloak]

Yea, and I wonder why South China Morning Post doesn’t talk about that 🤔

[@KIM72324]

I dont know the exact period of time but I believe it was during the end of 1940s up until mid1950s during which time Korean minorities(the official term for them in China) were allowed dual citizenship which provided legal grounds for many soldiers who had roots in Korean Peninsula or even born and still had living family members there at that time, to fight in Korean civil war. I have close family members from both sides of the peninsula and got to know that bit of history through my own family stories.@@robertortiz-wilson1588

[@santi6854]

Music too loud!

[@TheMilpitasguy]

It's because Koreans are viewed as 2nd-class citizens in Japan, even those who have lived there for generations. The sting of this discrimination (even if Japanese officials refused to admit it) is what caused them to leave.

[@reneecaballero9624]

I've heard it's still very racist country. If you're not Japanese, people won't hire you or even do business with you. Just from videos I've seen of people asking questions on the street of Japan to foreigners living there.

[@yanliew4027]

Koreans would be better as migrants in Japan than other foreigners !

[@Pepe-dq2ib]

Then why did both china and south korea have the same program? Plenty of them left china and south korea to north korea too. Was south kore being racist towards them or they just wanted to return home no matter.

[@kbeautician]

They ont want their country invaded by foreigners. Let people be secluded if they wanna. Gheez, Karen. They can keep that place to themselves.

[@大野靖男]

It is difficult to live in harmony with people who worship dictatorships and are hostile to Japanese society.

[@wdynpn]

The reason why north korean left japan was because it was hard for koreans to get a respectable jobs in japan, that's why many yakuza are of korean descent

[@jeanmiyu6904]

No. Koreans could return to South too. Those who chose North just love Northern Kim and/or had an interest in living paradise.

[@wdynpn]

@@jeanmiyu6904 this is video about North Korea, but ok

[@twist777hz]

In the chaotic postwar years, joining a yakuza was the easiest way to make a living. Not dissimilar to poor Italian-American immigrants joining mafias in NYC and Chicago.

[@lenawagenfuehr53]

Most Yakuza are Japanese, belonging to the Burakumin outcaste

[@manomyth11]

Why is there such loud annoying music in the background', which is making it hard to hear people speaking'?🤔

[@nightingale3.0]

the music is louder Than the voice over

[@iceberg789]

some people just have doomed fortune, no matter what way they go. 😟

[@mayshusakuhanamurasufferli5438]

Sad

[@1990-w1l]

Japan: Frying pan, NK: an Open Blue Flame

[@sjelucten7150]

Who divided and ruled them? it sounds familiar because it happened elsewhere in Asia as well?

[@dandreer3150]

Hyangsu Park's grandmother was right. My grandparents were from the Soviet Union and suffered horribly under that regime. The only difference between communists and national socialists (Nazis) is how they choose their scapegoats; the former by socioeconomic class while the latter by race.

[@JaceTan-90]

Wow. Kudos to this documentary

[@tomeknaj]

The dramatic music doesn't have to play loudly *all* the time, you know?

[@casanovapilar]

The music in the editing overlaps with the voices. It's disturbing not being able to hear people’s voices properly. Sorry😢

[@archivist68]

Does anyone here know why so many Koreans, North and South, relocated to Japan under its colonial rule? Was it for economic reasons? Were they forced, as a subjugated people? The documentary says that at the end of the war there were about 1 million Koreans in Japan. This particular history is new to me.

[@N_May1]

Breeding purposes. A lot of males that didn't obey to be sent as soldiers were killed off, and women were either sent back to Japan to be married off to soldiers who were promised wives/women for service. Mainly, Japan needed women to breed them fresh soldiers because many Japanese died in the initial stages of WW2. A lot of Koreans also ended up in Russia. There's a colony of Koreans living as Russians.

[@coffeelink943]

To increase their population to have new future recruitment for their army generation

[@yo2trader539]

There were no military conscription for Koreans. And Japan had a massive labor shortage during the final phases of the war.

[@mojabaka]

Both. Some of them moved due to economic reasons, others (around 150.000) were taken forcibly to work in mines and factories.

[@Nyckaka]

Cheap labor. Men shortages.

[@davidcunningham2074]

really interesting

[@benvad9010]

They were a part of the Empire of Japan and had citizenship but their co-ethnics wanted an independent republic, so that being said they have a foreign nationality and their country is not in Japan. The Japan gives them a lot of leeway and options. They can easily nationalize but that requires acquiring a Japanese name and identity secondly they can repatriate to either of the Koreas and thirdly remain a Special Permanent Resident (which is a resident of Japan with special rights), they can reside and work but they can not have any say in Japan, vote or are barred from certain employment. They have a wide variety of choices to choose from. They never seem to want to return to their homeland for some strange reason? South Korea is a first world prosperous nation and they make it clear that they don't want to be Japanese. Maybe they should go to Korea?

[@williamearl1662]

Whats with the music? Does it have a function beyond being a distraction?

[@elvinteo1081]

I appreciate this kind of short documentary.

[@apolakigamingandmore6376]

*Bruh, I was confused at the title, I thought that 100,000 Japanese people left Japan for North Korea...*

[@Pokephosgene]

Why did South Korea not want to take Koreans from Japan, but the North did?

[@KM-uh5ro]

Super whoops! Imagine thinking you’re going to live a better life only to end up in north korea :’(

[@twogamer7149]

Incomplete and potentially misleading title.

[@pal2011]

Wow, I learned so much from these 2 videos

[@irawilliams343]

This is just sad. While I absolutely loathe the oppressive regime of North Korea, I can't blame them for the hatred they felt for Japan.

[@futo]

and still no accountability from Japan

[@Slava_Ukraini1991]

@@futo ?

[@yo2trader539]

They should leave Japan if they don't want to live in Japan. North Korea sounds like a heaven on earth.

[@irawilliams343]

@@yo2trader539 so a country that starves it own people while building nuclear weapons is a heaven on earth?

[@Slava_Ukraini1991]

@@yo2trader539 NK doesn't have food. Semantics I guess.

[@Jesusandbible]

music is way too loud and invasive

[@Truthseeker371]

In the nutshell, what does this video appeal? What, in concrete, does it plea to the audience to do? The NK Government has ignored the plea for all these years. Unless the economic sanctions are removed, the NK is not willing to listen.

[@KoRNeRd]

Music is so loud, I can barely understand people speaking.

[@weiliyin909]

So, this is Koreans living in Japan going back to Korea. The thumbnail is really misleading.

[@robertzoufood]

It never said Japanese people were leaving. It just said people left from Japan.

[@jinroh516]

meanwhile, Yeonmi Park?

[@reekhavoc2932]

Sad! Sooo sad...

[@bobbarker1798]

"Return to paradise" big promises but hardly a paradise without food.

[@1derboy352]

This is what South Korean government still do to Chinese born in Korea. What comes around goes around one way or another.

[@ThriftyGamerG]

Imagine from poverty and get invited to more hellish life.

[@nexusbleed5014]

*One sentence DEPORTATION.*

[@dave4342]

Because they love their Korean heritage and culture and want to return. Japan stole so many culture from China and Korea throughout their history

[@rowbearly6128]

AWWWW..heh heh

[@yanliew4027]

Now in reverse as Japan 's population dropped, Koreans can better fit into their society than other foreigners !

[@DK-mq9zf]

Uh... No name for the Asian lady that says she has a youtube channel? No name, no link. Nothing?

[@yqisq6966]

Japan was no paradise either tho.

[@fg009letyrds8]

Yeah, Japan in 1960s was no different from South Korea at that time. There's no way Japanese would want competition from Koreans when even they can barely survive.

[@Iwcmdpp]

Both Koreas and Japan still being awful places to live till this day. But NK is much worse, though.

[@daniel9895]

@@Iwcmdpp South Korea and Japan aren't "awful places to live". Yes obviously they have their own problems but when compared to other countries around the globe, these two are considered really safe, technologically advanced, and full of opportunity.

[@Rushour717]

Maybe in the future there will BNO documentary about HKers in the UK

[@QuietJugung]

No mention of sanctions.