North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has donated $2 million in educational assistance to the pro-DPRK group of ethnic Koreans in Japan, state media said, a move to win the allegiance of members at a time when its younger generation is becoming increasingly apathetic to the regime's ideology.
The government-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday reported that Kim donated 287.02 million yen (approximately $2 million) to the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, known as Chongryon, to celebrate the 113th birthday of founding leader Kim Il Sung on April 15.
The gift maintains a tradition of over three decades of sending so-called 'educational aid money and stipends' to Chongryon on or around the anniversary.
As in past years, the readout for this year says that Kim sent money for Chongryon students 'democratic national education' that had been labeled before by Kim Jong Un as the lifeline of Chongryon and the movement of the Koreans in Japan and a patriotic endeavor of eternal value on which the survival and the destiny of the community of Koreans in Japan rely.
Chongryon, celebrating its 50th founding anniversary this year, is Pyongyang's de facto embassy in Tokyo because the two nations lack diplomatic relations. Chongryon has been accused of secretly funding the regime, while its newspaper the Choson Sinbo is an extension of the North Korean propaganda machine.
Kim Jong Un has given special focus to Chongryon's education system in recent times, stressing in 2022 that the schools must 'improve' educational material while accord definite priority to politico-ideological education and education in national identity".
While meeting Chongryon student performers in January, he asked the organization's director "to train a greater number of pillars who would carry forward the baton of the patriotic cause of Chongryon.
But it is reported to be having problems through falling membership, especially because the younger generations that have been born in Japan show little enthusiasm for the communist ideals of their parents and grandparents.Kosuke Takahashi, a Tokyo-based journalist who has reported on Chonryong for decades, said that the stipend is "a political gesture and symbol of the country's support for Koreans in Japan to secure the loyalty of the next generation of Chongryon members".
But he also pointed out that donations during the past few years, although larger than previous donations in yen value, are "very small amounts for a country's educational program".
"Since the figure is so small, it is probable that Chongryon officials collect it when they go to Pyongyang or remit it through a third country", Takahashi stated, implying that Chongryong remits even more funds to North Korea from the profits of its business operations.
Experts have questioned how North Korea keeps donating money to Chongryon in recent years in defiance of sanctions, which deny the DPRK access to the world banking system.At the same time, Tokyo's Sankei Shimbun reported last Thursday that Chongryon has been receiving money from South Korean civic groups in defiance of North Korea's anti-unification policy.The outlet elaborated that the funding seems to be an attempt to counterbalance financial hardships stemming from sanctions on Pyongyang.
