March 29, 2024
Features

Expelled from Chongryon, ex-member hopes to unite Koreans in Japan

Hong Kyung Eui was ousted from the group after urging reform and now says group is a shadow of its former self

Hong Kyung Eui was once a proud member of Chongryon, the pro-DPRK organization of ethnic Koreans in Japan. The group gave him a sense of identity and belonging in a country where ethnic Koreans have long faced discrimination. 

He first learned of the group decades ago as an undergraduate in Osaka. Japan’s second-largest city is home to more Koreans than any other place in Japan, and Hong soon fell in with Chongryon student circles.

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