Court rules gov't subsidy denial to pro-Pyongyang schools illegal

OSAKA -- A court here ruled on July 28 that the government's decision to exclude pro-Pyongyang high schools in Japan from a program to make high school tuition free is illegal and invalid.

"The government excluded Osaka Korean High School in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, from the program for diplomatic and political reasons, which are irrelevant to guaranteeing equal opportunity in education. Therefore, the decision is illegal and invalid," Presiding Judge Takahiro Nishida wrote in the ruling. Another presiding judge, Masahiro Miwa, read the ruling on behalf of Nishida.

Similar lawsuits have been filed with five district courts and their branches across the country, and the July 28 ruling is the first one that sided with a school.

In April 2010, the then administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan introduced the system, which would provide subsidies to high schools and specialized vocational high schools to cover their tuition fees. So-called "miscellaneous schools," including pro-Pyongyang Korean schools, are subject to the program if designated by the education minister.

The education ministry was screening applications filed by the operators of pro-Pyongyang schools including Osaka Korean High School for subsidies when North Korea shelled South Korea, prompting the ministry to put off its decision.

In February 2013, after the Liberal Democratic Party took over the reins of government, then education minister Hakubun Shimomura called into question these schools' relations with North Korea and the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).

The ministry then deleted a clause from ministry regulations under which pro-Pyongyang schools were eligible to receive such subsidies, and decided not to designate 10 North Korean schools, including Osaka Korean High School, for the subsidies.

The points of contention during the trial at the Osaka District Court were whether the ministry's deletion of the relevant clause from its regulations and the decision not to designate pro-Pyongyang schools under the program were appropriate.

In the ruling, the court said, "The government judged that the application of the system to these schools could hinder a resolution to the abduction of Japanese nationals by the North and would not win public understanding. The decision made for such diplomatic and political reasons deviates from the law's principle of guaranteeing equal opportunities in education."