朝鮮学校補助 子どもらに責任はない

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 21
EDITORIAL: Politicians bully Korean school students for acts of Pyongyang
（社説）朝鮮学校補助　子どもらに責任はない

Korean schools across Japan are attended by Korean residents’ children, who are taught subjects in line with Japan’s official curriculum guidelines and also learn Korean language and culture.
　全国各地にある朝鮮学校は、在日コリアンの子どもたちが通っている。日本の学習指導要領に準じた各教科のほか、民族の言葉や文化も学ぶ。

Almost all of these schools are in financial distress. Many local governments of areas hosting Korean schools provide the institutions with subsidies similar to the financial support received by private Japanese schools and other international schools.
　どの学校も財政的に運営は厳しく、所在地の自治体の多くが他の私学や国際系の学校と同じように、補助金を出している。

But some politicians of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and other parties are calling on the education ministry to terminate public subsidies to Korean schools.
これに対し、自民党などから補助を打ち切るよう文部科学省に求める声が出ている。

These lawmakers are casting their proposal as part of Japan’s sanctions against North Korea, which has failed to respond to Tokyo’s demands concerning Japanese citizens abducted by Pyongyang decades ago and has refused to stop its provocative actions, such as nuclear tests.
　拉致問題に加え、核実験などを繰り返す北朝鮮への制裁の一環だという。

Some local governments have already suspended their subsidies to Korean schools.
いくつかの自治体はすでに補助を止めている。

But children attending Korean schools are not at all responsible for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program or the abduction issue.
　だが、朝鮮学校に通う子どもたちには、核開発や拉致問題の責任はない。

Punishing schools that educate young Korean residents of Japan for North Korea’s actions is tantamount to bullying of the weak driven by misplaced anger.
北朝鮮の国に問題があるからといって、日本で暮らす子どもの学びの場に制裁を科すのは、お門違いの弱い者いじめというほかない。

It is inappropriate, in the first place, for the education ministry to interfere in the issue, which is under the jurisdiction of local governments concerned.
　そもそも地方自治体が権限を持つこの問題について、文科省が介入するのは適切ではない。

The Japanese government started offering tuition-free high school education six years ago, when the Democratic Party of Japan was in power. But this benefit has not been applied to Korean schools.
　日本では、民主党政権だった６年前から高校の無償化が始まったが、これも朝鮮学校には適用されていない。

The DPJ-led government kept dragging its foot on abolishing tuition fees at Korean schools. And the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which was inaugurated in December 2012, swiftly removed Korean schools from the list of institutions eligible for the program.
民主党政権は適用を保留し続け、その後の安倍政権は発足後すぐに無償化対象からはずしてしまった。

Students at Korean schools and other people concerned have sued the government in Tokyo, Osaka and other cities, arguing that the exclusion of their schools from the program due to political reasons is illegal.
　政治的理由による除外は違法だとして、朝鮮学校の生徒らが国を相手どり、東京や大阪など各地で裁判に訴えている。

In the international arena, some U.N. agencies, including the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, have criticized the Japanese government’s policy concerning the issue. These organizations have recognized the exclusion of Korean schools from tuition-free high school education as a form of discrimination. They have also urged the Japanese government to apply the program to these schools and exhort local governments to continue the subsidies.
　国際的にも、人種差別撤廃委員会など国連の場では、高校無償化の適用除外は「差別だ」と認めたり、日本政府に対し、無償化の適用や、地方自治体に補助の維持を勧めるよう求めたりする見解が相次いでいる。

Last year, the bar association of Saitama Prefecture rebuked Saitama Governor Kiyoshi Ueda for his move to suspend the prefectural government’s subsidies to Korean schools within the prefecture. The association warned that Ueda’s action constitutes an “extremely serious violation of human rights.”
　国内でも、埼玉弁護士会が昨年、補助を止めている埼玉県の上田清司知事に「極めて重大な人権侵害」と警告した。

At many Korean schools, members of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) are involved in school administration.
　朝鮮学校では、在日本朝鮮人総連合会（朝鮮総連）の関係者が運営にかかわっているケースは多い。

But education should be kept insulated from politics. Kanagawa Governor Yuji Kuroiwa has continued subsidies to individual Korean students instead of their schools. Kuroiwa has said children are blameless.
だが、政治と教育は別だ。神奈川県の黒岩祐治知事は「子どもたちに罪はない」として、学校ではなく、生徒たち個人への補助を続けている。

Aside from differences in perceptions about history, problems with the curricula at Korean schools, if any, should be solved through talks between the government and the institutions.
　歴史観の違いはともかく、教育内容に問題があれば話し合いで解決すべきだ。

In fact, the content of education at Korean schools has been changing significantly.
実際、朝鮮学校の教育も変化してきている。

The community of Korean residents in Japan has become diversified. At many Korean schools, children of South Korean nationality make up a majority.
　在日コリアンの社会は多様化しており、多くの朝鮮学校で、韓国籍の子どもが過半数となりつつある。

It is wrong to think that Korean schools are attended only by children of people who worship the North Korean regime.
北朝鮮の体制を崇拝している人々の子どもだけが通うと考えるのは誤りだ。

More than anything else, students at Korean schools are also members of our society.
　何より朝鮮学校の子どもたちも私たちの社会の一員だ。

Any attempt to close the door to children who can build bridges between Japan and its neighbors would only increase the number of people who harbor antipathy toward Japan.
日本と隣国の懸け橋になりうる子どもたちを排除しようという思想であれば、逆に日本に反感を持つ人々を増やすだけである。