Pro-Pyongyang Korean communities in Japan were "confused" but tight-lipped Tuesday, a day after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was announced.
In a seemingly highly disciplined response, reporters seeking reactions from some of the tens of thousands of Koreans loyal to the Stalinist regime were met by an almost unbroken wall of silence.
Japan's 700,000-strong Korean community are mostly descendants of migrants and forced workers from Tokyo's sometimes brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula, and chose sides after it was divided along the 38th parallel.
The pro-Pyongyang minority have maintained their loyalties and have their own civic organisations and educational institutions funded by the North, while integration with the host culture is strongly discouraged. (AsiaOne)
Pro-Pyongyang Korean communities in Japan were "confused" but tight-lipped Tuesday, a day after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was announced.
In a seemingly highly disciplined response, reporters seeking reactions from some of the tens of thousands of Koreans loyal to the Stalinist regime were met by an almost unbroken wall of silence.
Japan's 700,000-strong Korean community are mostly descendants of migrants and forced workers from Tokyo's sometimes brutal 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean peninsula, and chose sides after it was divided along the 38th parallel.
The pro-Pyongyang minority have maintained their loyalties and have their own civic organisations and educational institutions funded by the North, while integration with the host culture is strongly discouraged. (AsiaOne)