Japan's pressuring North Korea
At a time when the international community is strenuously trying to denuclearize North Korea, one would be surprised to know that Japan, the main target of North Korea's nuclear missiles, is cutting Pyongyang considerable slack. There are many measures Japan could take against North Korea, because it plays host to a North Korean organization of some 70,000 members called the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Japanese abbreviation Chongryon), which functions in place of an embassy in a country with which North Korea has no diplomatic relations.
Actions taken so far are too little, too late. For example, in 2016, Japan subjected five Korean nuclear and missile technology experts living in Japan to a ban on re-entry if they should travel again to North Korea. However, they do not need to travel to that country to teach their dangerous knowledge. Besides, most of them have worked for North Korea for decades and there is no way to take back the technology they provided. One of the sanctioned five,Dr Pyeon Cheol Ho, assistant professor at Kyoto University Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science, is still working there, paid by Japanese taxpayers as an employee of a national university. Chongryon is Kim Jong Un's weak spot and it could be a crucial bargaining chip in the effort to denuclearize North Korea and to stop the regime's crimes against humanity.
On April 20, 1999, the late dictator Kim Jong Il issued a directive: "Chongryon is a precious revolutionary legacy of the Great Leader [founder of the regime Kim Il Sung]. We must defend to the death and preserve Chongryon unconditionally using any means possible." In North Korea, directives of Kim Jong Il take precedence over even the constitution. Although Chongryon these days is not sending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to North Korea as it was said to do as recently as the 1990s, remittances are still likely to be substantial enough that Kim Jong Un would feel the need to compromise if Japan took action. I am lobbying the Japanese government to take three measures:
"Close down Chongryon-related bank accounts in Japan, in accordance with US financial sanctions. (US Executive Order 13687 says that US persons, including Japanese banks doing business in the US, are not allowed to deal with sanctioned persons and entities, and there is no exception for transactions made outside the US.)
"Revoke Tokyo Metropolitan Government approval of Chongryon's Korea University in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, which prohibit teaching hazardous technology to North Korean nationals. Paragraph 17 of UNSCR 2270 (2016) lists "teaching or training in advanced physics, advanced computer simulation and related computer sciences, geospatial navigation, nuclear engineering, aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineering and related disciplines." Paragraph 10 of UNSCR 2321 (2016) singles out teaching and training that could contribute to "proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or the development of nuclear weapons delivery systems" including "advanced materials science, advanced chemical engineering, advanced mechanical engineering, advanced electrical engineering and advanced industrial engineering." In the late 1990s and early 2000s, after 16 credit unions controlled by Chongryon had collapsed, the Japanese government - controversially arguing that the law required it - paid 1.35 trillion yen (US12.5 billion) for a bailout.
Chongryon admitted responsibility for 63 billion yen worth of debt from the credit unions, but refused to pay it back. Now, with compounding, it owes more than 90 billion yen to the Japanese government. In a reply to written question submitted by Jin Matsubara, a lawmaker and former national public safety commissioner, on March 5, 2019, the Japanese government stated that it was able to file bankruptcy against Chongryon and that if any Chongryon official should refuse to answer questions or lie to a bankruptcy administrator appointed by the court, he or she could face imprisonment of up to three years.