Pro-N.Korean Schools in Japan Cave in to Funding Pressure

Pro-North Korean high schools in Japan changed textbook entries about North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese nationals and the bombing of Korean Air passenger plane in 1987 to receive local government funding, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Thursday.  

Kanagawa Prefecture on Wednesday said pro-Pyongyang high schools in the prefecture removed from their modern history textbook the sentence "Japan exaggerated the kidnap issue," and the entry claiming South Korea "fabricated" the bombing was amended to the bombing "occurred."

The textbook is used in 10 pro-North Korean high schools in Japan. Kanagawa Prefecture added the modified version of the textbook was checked during a survey of high schools as part of a national tuition fee waiver program at the end of May.

Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa said on Thursday, "We agreed to provide 63 million yen of funding to the schools as they promised to use the supplementary book that says North Korea 'officially admitted' the kidnapping, and reflect this when the textbook is revised in 2013. Whether we will continue to provide funding after next year depends on the teaching in these schools."

Kanagawa Prefecture withheld financial assistance to five pro-Pyongyang primary, middle and high schools in the prefecture last year, and demanded modification of history textbooks and transparent management of schools.

Shin Kil-woong, who leads a group of head teachers at high schools run by the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Koreans in Japan or Chongryon, said, "We decided to remove the parts on the kidnapping issue to seek understanding from Japanese people."