Word: japanized
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...Chongyron was dedicated to preserving Korean identity in Japan, running Korean-language schools and cultural organizations, and its strong sense of national pride prompted its support for Pyongyang; in the organization's heyday, South Korea was viewed among zainichi as little more than an American poodle. But as Pyongyang took a firmer hand in the running of Chongyron, it became less concerned with improving the lot of its members than with furthering North Korea's agenda, soliciting money from the zainichi to enrich Kim Jong Il, and before him, his father, Kim Il Sung...
...organization in 1965. "All he did was use the zainichi as human resources for the North Korean regime." (Chongyron did not respond to requests for comment.) Things became worse for the organization in the 1990s when undeniable proof of human rights atrocities in the North began to reach Japan's zainichi. The knockout blow came when Pyongyang admitted, in 2002, that it had kidnapped a number of Japanese citizens for espionage purposes since the 1970s - Chongyron had always dismissed allegations about the kidnappings as lies. With the Japanese public enraged - even more so after last October's nuclear test...
...have been far more inclined than their parents had been to intermarry or take Japanese citizenship, as official discrimination against them began to ease. "They believe they can succeed in Japanese society," says Kim Kyoo Il. "Their understanding is that they'll live here permanently." Given an aging, shrinking Japan's need for more immigrants - and the country's recent mania for things Korean - that's a safe assumption...
...zainichi become more integrated into Japanese life, Chongyron faces extinction. A proud zainichi such as high-tech entrepreneur Masayoshi Son, one of the richest men in Japan, is emblematic of a new generation that no longer need the protection of an ethnic association, much less one tied to a dictator. The gradual rapprochement between North and South Korea has also rendered Chongyron superfluous. "When the South and the North come together over there, you don't have to pick one or the other over here," says...
...North Korea haven't entirely disappeared among many zainichi, even if they've gotten somewhat complicated. The Chongyron associate says that when soccer's World Cup rolls around, he still cheers for North Korea. "But I realized when I watched a match that I know everyone on the Japan side, but no one for North Korea," he says. "Living in Japan but supporting North Korea is just very strange...