Strikes me that this article is the sort of thing that can cause hysteria, incite xenophobia, and even lead to lynching or the Japanese equivalent. Fortunately I doubt Boing Boing has too much influence there. But surely this is a matter for law enforcement and state security services to investigate, not someone like Krebs, who may be a pro security researcher, but is not a counter-intelligence officer either of our government or Japanâs.
Holy cow, what is up with the comments? I swear to god there are people out there who scream âFALSE FLAGâ when a delivery guy rings their doorbell. Though I imagine only 'round the holidays when you get temps doing the delivery routes as the regular guy knows which houses to throw packages at without slowing down.
Wasnât the same kind of suspicion that led to the internment camps in the USA during WWII?
In Japan there are Zainichi, Koreans who have been resident there since before WWII. When the Empire dissolved and Japan lost sovereignty over the Korean peninsula. Resident Koreans were then provisionally classified as Chosen-seki (âKorean domicileâ), since at the time there was no effective Korean government. In 1948 North and South Korea both declared independence, so Korean residents were given the option of changing their citizen status to South Korean or keeping it as Chosen-seki. Zainichi Koreans who chose to stay Chosen-seki did so because they identified with North Korea (Japan recognizes the South as the sole government of Korea).
The Chongryon is an association for Chosen-seki and has been around since the 1950s. While their website isnât in English just by looking at it you can tell theyâre pro-North Korea. The organization is a major source of foreign currency for North Korea, and has been implicated in stuff like the North Korean abduction of Japanese citizens. Suspecting them of involvement with North Korean shenanigans is about as unfair as wondering if NORAID was somehow involved in an IRA attack.
[note: edited for clarity and change âinflammatoryâ to âunfairâ]
Uighurs? Please.
Have you considered cutting back on caffeine?
No. Caffeine is absolutely necessary.
Thereâs also the history of both northern and southern governments massacring dissidents.
Your comment here is historically and factually correct and I think you for this. Unfortunate that I feel the need to do so but this is sometimes an issue which causes deep whargarbl from both the Left and Right.
Calling these Koreans in japan makes about as much sense as calling all Turks in Germany expats, or undocumented kids in the USA expats. Almost all of them have been born and raised in Japan, even if they do not have Japanese citizenship because of Japanâs restrictive, lineage-based citizenship system.
I donât believe that NORAID actually was implicated by the media in many IRA attacks, not do I think that NORAID was associated with all Irish-Americans the way the Chongryon are associate with all North Koreans in Japan. Letâs face it, there is a lot more anti-Korean discrimination in Japan than there is anti-Irish discrimination in the US.
[quote=âbwv812, post:12, topic:48604â]
Calling these Koreans in japan makes about as much sense as calling all Turks in Germany expats, or undocumented kids in the USA expats. Almost all of them have been born and raised in Japan, even if they do not have Japanese citizenship because of Japanâs restrictive, lineage-based citizenship system.[/quote]
Actually, lots do take Japanese citizenship. The catch is that to do so you need to take a Japanese name, and since neither Japan nor South Korea allow dual citizenship it also requires abandoning any claims to Korean citizenship. To many Zainichi, especially the older generations, this means abandoning their Korean identity so they stay on as residents.
I donât believe that NORAID actually was implicated by the media in many IRA attacks, not do I think that NORAID was associated with all Irish-Americans the way the Chongryon are associate with all North Koreans in Japan. Letâs face it, there is a lot more anti-Korean discrimination in Japan than there is anti-Irish discrimination in the US.
I was already thinking I should go back and change âinflammatoryâ to âunfairâ for precisely those reasons. So thanks for prompting me do so!
Betteridge gives too much credit; at least a ânoâ answer is definitive. Really, the answer to any question hed is âmaybe!â Which makes the story even more useless, since the reader doesnât know where along the maybe scale it is:
Is the DPRK Responsible For The Sony Hacks? Maybe!
Can You Lose Weight With This Paleo Diet? Maybe!
Were The Pyramids Built By Extraterrestrials? Maybe!
I really hope Chongryon is uninvolved. Itâll give these assholes ammunition if they are.
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