In order to receive a local government subsidy worth more than 800 million won, Japan’s Chongryon has included in its high school textbooks official recognition that North Korea kidnapped Japanese citizens.
According to the Japanese press, as of June 1st history books used by at least one Chongryon-run school in Kanagawa Prefecture no longer state, “The Japanese authorities overstate the kidnapping problem.”
Another section of the textbook covering the 1987 explosion of a Korean Air passenger plane has also been changed, from “South Korea fabricated,” to, “an explosion occurred.”
The Kanagawa Prefecture authorities previously agreed that if elementary, middle and high schools all complied with the demands, then they would be able to receive the annual subsidy, worth around 840 million won.
Kanagawa Prefecture had deferred planned subsidies in the previous year because of problems with the history textbooks used in Chongryon-run schools. The high school in question was found to have revised the problematic parts of its textbooks at the end of May.
Explaining the decision, the head of the National Association of Chosun High Schools, Shin Gil Woong, stated, “We decided to make the deletions at the end of consultations to obtain the understanding of the Japanese people.”
