Soccer: Confused loyalties for Japan's Koreans

By YONGGI KANG in Tokyo

For Hwang Hak Sun, a professional footballer in Japan's J. League, even soccer could never replace his ethnic origin as the most important part of his life.

The thought of giving up his North Korean nationality has never crossed his mind, despite all the problems it has caused on his way to becoming a midfielder with Mito Holly Hock.

But Hwang has never lived in North Korea.

He is one of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Koreans in Japan dealing with conflicting loyalties and confused identities as Japan and South Korea prepare to co-host soccer's World Cup.

"Of course, if I had become a naturalised Japanese, things would have been a lot easier for me," says Hwang, catching his breath after a two-hour training session on his team's home ground in Mito, northeast of Tokyo.

"But it is more rewarding to play soccer with pride as a Korean even if that means facing more difficulties," he says.

Keeping his North Korean citizenship meant competing with experienced players from overseas for the five "foreign player slots" granted to each team, instead of taking the easier path of joining the J. League by becoming a Japanese citizen.

Hwang, 25, was not even able to try out for the one "Korean-Japanese" slot allowed for each team because he did not graduate from a Japanese school. He was educated in one of the North-affiliated Korean schools, which are not recognised by Japan's Education Ministry.

Hwang's persistence in keeping his nationality contrasts with the attitude of Brazilian-born Alessandro Santos who became a Japanese citizen in November in a bid to play in the World Cup.

"I'm Korean so I'm doing what a Korean ought to do," Hwang says.

Hwang, who unlike Santos will not be playing in the World Cup, does not hesitate to say he will be supporting South Korea during the finals.

"Even if it's South Korea, we're the same people," he says.

"It is sad that one part of the people can play and another can't. My dream is that one day the Koreans will play as a unified team."

Ethnic Koreans are the largest ethnic minority group in Japan. Officially, there are some 600,000 "Korean-Japanese" but academics say the number could be much bigger.

Most are descendants of more than two million Koreans who were brought to Japan as forced labourers during Japan's brutal colonial rule in 1910-1945 - a period that still defines the difficult relationship between Japan and the Koreas.

Many have become naturalised. Others have married a Japanese, so their children are no longer counted as part of the Korean ethnic group. Some, as in Hwang's case, remain determined to keep their ethnic identity, while others are more pragmatic.

Shin Mu Koeng, 31, a Korean-Japanese journalist, uses his language skills to report Korean soccer for Japanese magazines.

"The World Cup has given me the opportunity to present my writing in some of Japan's most prestigious sports magazines," says Shin, who grew up in Tokyo.

Shin, who was also educated at a Korean school and baptised by North Korea's socialist ideology in capitalist Japan, says it is tough being a freelance sports reporter but being able to speak both Japanese and Korean has definitely given him the edge. Unlike Hwang, who has kept his North Korean nationality, Shin switched his passport from North Korea to South Korea five years ago, not so much for ideological as for practical reasons.

"It's easier to go to the South with a South Korean passport," says Shin, who visits Korea once a month.

Asked whether he will be supporting South Korea or Japan in the World Cup, he says: "South Korea but that doesn't mean I'm not going to support Japan."

"If I have 100 per cent of energy, I think 80 per cent will go to Korea. It could be 50-50 between Korea and Japan but if Korea can win with an extra 30, I will definitely give it to Korea."

Ethnic Koreans are now in their third and fourth generations and their ethnic identities have become diverse, with varying degrees of attachment to their homeland.

Third-generation Korean-Japanese Oh Hyon Myong, a 22-year-old architecture student, has never attended a Korean school, does not speak much Korean, and feels more comfortable with his Japanese name, Masaaki Kure.

Oh, who carries a South Korean passport, says he goes by his Japanese name to avoid discrimination in a society that stresses homogeneity.

"I'm supporting Japan during the World Cup," Oh says.

"I've never been to Korean school, I read Japanese newspapers and I think like a Japanese."

- REUTERS

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