Present there were officials of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), Koreans, students of Korean schools and Japanese citizens.

An appeal was read out at the meeting.

Intolerable are such national discrimination steps as the exclusion of Korean schools in the prefecture from the application of the program and suspension of payment of subsidies due to the unreasonable steps of the Japanese authorities, the appeal said, demanding the lifting of discrimination against Korean schools and equal opportunity of learning.

It called on the Hiroshima Prefecture to make a breakthrough in abolishing national discrimination before any other prefectures.

A demonstration was staged outside the Yamaguchi Prefectural Office on May 15 against the backdrop of ceaseless protests conducted by those concerned of the Yamaguchi Korean primary and middle school, Koreans and Japanese citizens against the office's suspension of the payment of subsidies to Korean schools.

Ikuko Fujii, co-representative of the "Yamaguchi-Citizens Society for Keeping Alive the Constitution", denounced the unreasonable discriminating measure taken by the Prefectural office to exclude Korean students only from the payment of subsidies.

Akie Koga, representative of the "Society for Japan-DPRK Friendship and Solidarity", said that it is intolerable that Japan applies the idea of discriminating against Koreans to education, vowing to stage a solidarity action to settle the issue of aiding Korean schools.