Japanese citizens hold a rally near Shibuya Station in Tokyo on Sept. 7, 2019, to condemn the anti-Korean sentiment that is prevalent in Japan amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent survey showed that ethnic Korean high school and university students in Japan regularly experience discrimination in everyday life simply because they are South or North Korean.
The Korean Scholarship Foundation, affiliated with the Korean Residents Union in Japan, conducted a survey of 1,030 high school and university students under the theme of discrimination.
At 30.9 percent, close to one third of the respondents said that they had experienced verbal abuse simply because of their nationality.
Some respondents said that after being made aware that they were Korean, some Japanese changed their attitude or neglected them.
In response to a question asking who committed verbal abuse (multiple answers possible), 48.1 percent picked the Japanese students who attend the same school as them.
Following them were Japanese teachers (10.1 percent), Japanese customers in the places where the ethnic Korean students do part-time work (16.4 percent), and Japanese coworkers or senior managers (9.1 percent).
Against this backdrop, 42.8 percent said that at some point of their life in Japan, they have felt like they hate themselves due to their nationality.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
