Never in Japan, can kin 'return' here?
The Japan Times: May 20, 2004
By ERIC JOHNSTON, Staff writer
Courtesy: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040520f2.htm
OSAKA -- Many Japanese newspapers, magazines and TV stations are reporting that the
offspring of five Japanese who were abducted to North Korea in 1978 and repatriated
in October 2002 will be "returning" to Japan if North Korea lets them leave.
But "returning" can hardly be the appropriate term for people born and
raised in North Korea, who carry North Korean passports and who have never set foot
in Japan.
The Japanese media are using the term "kikoku suru," which means to return
to one's country. But whatever the legal arguments for claiming the children are
Japanese because their parents are Japanese, the term seems off the mark, said Lee
Young Hwa of the Rescue the North Korean People Urgent Action Network (RENK). "North
Korea is the only country these children know."
Hokkaido-based author and human rights activists Debito Arudou, a naturalized Japanese
who was born in the United States, agrees with Lee.
"The situation of the children is complicated, a consequence of kidnapping and
tragedy. But let's not jump the gun and assume that to these people Japan is home,
or even their country, yet.
"Unfortunately, the use of the word 'kikoku' does just that," he said.
Kenichi Asano, a journalism professor at Doshisha University and a former reporter
with Kyodo News, said editors and broadcasters should be telling people the offspring,
if Pyongyang allows them to leave, will be flown to Japan or are simply coming to
Japan, not returning home.
"By using kikoku suru, the media are just repeating the vocabulary used by the
abductees' families in Japan, their supporters and the Japanese government, without
thinking about the actual situation of the children themselves," he said.
Also, perceptions stemming from use of "kikoku" may lead to practical problems
later on, critics said.
According to Lee, the term casts the image that Japan is "home" for the
offspring. But if the offspring are allowed to come, and they eventually request
dual citizenship so they can visit North Korea, or even decide they do not want to
stay in Japan, after they have "returned home," Japan may find this hard
to take, he said.
The Japan Times: May 20, 2004
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