Regarding Donald Seekins' Nov 11 letter: Ignorance leads to arrogant notions that one rule should apply to all. The term "Special Permanent Resident" denotes special circumstances regarding how the status was giveNorth Koreans in Japan are descendants of men and women who suffered greatly under Japanese colonization. They lost their land, their nationality twice, their surnames and their language, and continue to live on the edge of Japanese society.
After years of suffering indignant discrimination, it was the anti-fingerprinting movement that was the stimulus for a long-awaited improvement and recognition for Koreans living in Japan. Is Seekins suggesting that SPRs be fingerprinted again and lose any gains they may have made?
The idea that North Korean residents of Japan may be "terrorists" is outrageous and unwarranted. And to assume that the majority of Koreans residing in Japan are North Korean-affiliated cannot be supported, as neither the Mindan nor the Chosen Soren can give accurate data regarding members as they rely on Japanese compiled data.
Those Koreans who visit North Korea visit family members who are in great need. Most would like to forget that these poor souls were repatriated to North Korea, a mass departure fully endorsed by the Japanese government in an effort to erase any last traces of Japan's hideous colonial past.
I am an overseas-born Permanent Resident who will reluctantly comply with the new rules regarding photographs and fingerprinting. However, as the wife of a second-generation South Korean SPR and the mother of third-generation South Korean SPRs, I welcome the government's decision to exempt SPRs from one more humiliation as they have suffered enough.
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