South Korea refused to return, North Korea welcomed
The project to repatriate Koreans residing in Japan after the war was pushed forward despite opposition from the South Korean government. North Korea has declared that it will pay for the cost of the ship to return home. He said he would welcome acceptance.
Many of the people who came to North Korea from Japan were postwar immigrants who came to Japan after fleeing the Jeju April 3rd Incident and the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident in South Korea. The repatriation project was carried out jointly by the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Korean Red Cross Society.
South Korea tried to obstruct the repatriation project
The South Korean side opposed this repatriation project, extended the detention of Japanese fishermen, cut off trade relations, sent terrorist agents, attempted to bomb the Niigata Japanese Red Cross, and sabotage plans were revealed one after another. It was revealed that plans included the assassination of Japanese personnel involved in the repatriation project and the bombing of railway tracks heading to Niigata Port.
It is the right of citizens to return to their home country
South Korea opposed the repatriation project because it received international criticism for refusing to return and North Korea accepting it.
Mass repatriation will only be possible if the governments of both countries cooperate with those who wish to return home, based on the humanitarian principle of international law, which is the freedom to choose their place of residence. Furthermore, post-war disposal is based on the aim of restoring things to their original state.
South Korean government refused to normalize diplomatic relations
The Japan-Korea Status of Forces Agreement was concluded in the 1965 Agreement. When Japan raised the issue of how to repatriate Koreans living in Japan when diplomatic relations were normalized, the South Korean government again refused. In response to this, an agreement was reached that allowed them to reside in Japan, which was the Japan-Korea Status of Forces Agreement.
Abnormal situation in which one's own citizens are cut off
In other words, the Korean government has cut down and abandoned its own people. As a result, it was North Korea that supported the Korean Peninsula residents who remained in Japan. To this day, Korean schools continue to receive support from North Korea. As a result, Chosen Chongren and Korean schools became North Korean.
This is not an ordinary country's decision. This is an abnormal situation in which Japan refuses to allow its own citizens to return. Incidentally, Japan's repatriation project was carried out with the cooperation of the Japanese and Chinese governments.
Japanese repatriation project
The repatriation of Japanese people from Manchuria began in 1946, with more than one million Japanese returning from ports in China. After the Communist civil war, the People's Republic of China and Japan were forced to suspend diplomatic relations, and the mass repatriation was ended. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and China, the removal of orphans left behind in China began in 1981, and more than 2,000 children were able to return to Japan.
Japan's ongoing repatriation project
Remaining orphans were forced to walk for tens of kilometers and were not allowed to stop their march, as the departure time and number of crew members for the ship were set when the Japanese were to be evacuated. Many women and children were unable to walk and were separated from their families, becoming Chinese wives through human trafficking or being adopted.
Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare still provides temporary repatriation assistance, permanent repatriation assistance, local settlement support, and self-reliance assistance.
