在日韓朝鮮人の地方参政権 : 定住外国人の市民的権利の獲得と今後の展望(第20回桃山学院大学・啓明大学校国際学術セミナー)

Korean residents as "permanent alien residents" (Teiju Gaikokujin) in Japan form a large minority. If the term "race" is a biological and physical concept, while the term "ethnicity" denotes cultural and social characteristics, those Koreans should be called an ethnic minority. The community of Koreans in Japan formed mainly in the period of World War II. The 1939～45 period especially can be charactarized as a period of forced movement of Koreans to Japan, which a Japanese author has called "a modern version of the old slave trade." Laborers were forced to come to Japan to work in dangerous mines and factories to produce war materials, construct airfields, and so on. About 1.56 million Koreans were brought to Japan, including about 110,000, who were drafted for direct military service, When Korea was a Japanes colony, the movement increased the size of the Korean minority in Japan to 2.37 million by the end of World War II. Immediately after the war, rapid repatriation reduced the Korean population to about 545,000 by 1950. Most returned to the Republic of Korea, their place of origin. The status of Koreans in Japan shifted from "Japanese citizens" to "foreigners" with the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1952. In the Japanese legal system, there is no specific concept of "citizen" or "citizen\u27s rights" (Shimin Ken) as such: the term "Japanese national" is used instead. An official of the Justice Ministry said in reference to Japanese legal treatment of foreigners: "We are free to boil and eat them or fry and eat them." (Ikegami Tsutomu, Legal Status 200-Questions, Kyobunsha 1960). Japanese society includes a deep layer of prejudice and discrimination against foreigners, especially Koreans in Japan. Thus, the majority of the Korean minority remains in Japan as aliens, legally barred from voting, from various types of welfare benefits, and from employment in government and government-licensed professions. However, some progress is being made. In 1979, Japan ratified the International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Civil and Political Rights, and in 1982, that on Refugees. All of these laws have enhanced the cause of human rights in Japan. But Koreans in Japan, as well as other "permanent alien residents" (Teiju Gaikokujin), still have no voting rights in local elections although this rights is fundamental if thay are to live a life of dignity in Japan. The contents of this paper are as follws: 1. Introduction: The movement for the acquisition of voting rights in local elections. 2. The movements to prevent the infringement of fundamental human rights and for the abolition of discrimination against "permanent alien residents." 3. The realization of a multiracial society and the internationalization of Japan. 4. The struggle in the courts toward the franchise in local elections to all "permanent alien residents" in Japan. 5. Some problems of the Bills, presented to the Japanese Diet. 6. Summary and conclusions regarding future prospects