The Japanese reactionaries, who had forced "assimilation education" dating back to the Japanese imperialist colonial rule on the Koreans in Japan after the liberation of Korea, delivered the "instruction" of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture at the instigation of the U.S. imperialists on January 24, 1948 to the effect that they do not recognize the establishment of Korean schools and that those schools that had already acquired recognition have to conduct education with Japanese textbooks and in Japanese.

Then they sent a notification to the Association of Koreans in Japan which specified that school age children must enter schools recognized by the governor, and the contents of textbooks and education courses must abide by the law of Japan on school education.

Accordingly, all the local authorities began to threaten Korean schools all together from February 15 to shut them down if they do not follow the needs of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture.

The enraged Koreans in Japan formed the Measure Committee for Education of Koreans and mounted mass struggle, which reached its peak on April 24 to lead to frustration of the frantic fascist suppression by the Japanese reactionaries and defence of the sacred right to national education.

National education conducted by overseas Koreans in their residing countries fully accords with the ideal of national equality, and it is a very important issue related to the existence and future of the Koreans' society.

After the April 24 education struggle, the Japanese reactionaries made a decision on disbanding Korean schools in October 1949 at the instigation of the U.S., shut down, confiscated or illegalized over 340 Korean schools in Japan and made their desperate bid to frustrate the national education of Koreans in Japan, which has since lasted decade after decade.

Blaming the education at Korean schools for not being in compliance with the contents of high schools of Japan in April 2010, the Japanese reactionaries excluded Korean schools from the list of tuition-free program for senior high schools. In 2013 they removed the provision which can be a reason for applying the tuition-free program for high schools to Korean schools from the rules for its legal enforcement.

Then they made local autonomous bodies stop supplying subsidies to the Korean schools.

They also excluded kindergarten children under the Korean schools from the system of "free education and upbringing of children". They even excluded children of Korean schools and kindergartens from the anti-epidemic measure for preventing COVID-19, a disease of great threat to humankind.

They continued wild words, violent acts and threats to teaching staff and students of the Korean schools, on account of the legitimate self-defensive measures taken by the DPRK, and have become blood-shot to destroy the national education of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), the lifeline of the movement of Koreans in Japan.

The persistent moves of the Japanese reactionaries to destroy the national education of Chongryon is an extension of Japan's deep-rooted hostile policy toward the DPRK, and they constitute the unethical crimes that can never be pardoned in the light of historical facts and from international legal point of view.

The Koreans in Japan are direct victims of the Japanese imperialists' colonial rule and their descendents, and the Japanese authorities have legal and humanitarian responsibility to ensure their rights, promote the development of national education of Koreans and protect children of Korean schools.

Especially, the right to national education of Koreans in Japan is in line with international laws and domestic laws signed by Japan including the World Declaration of Human Rights and the international convention on economic, social and cultural rights.

Through their unabated crackdown on the national education of Chongryon, the Japanese reactionaries aim to cut off the lifeline of Chongryon and the movement of Koreans in Japan and, furthermore, eliminate the national character of the Koreans' society.

The violation of the national rights of Koreans in Japan means the violation of the sovereignty of the DPRK.

The Japanese reactionaries must know clearly that Chongryon and the Koreans in Japan are under strong protection by the DPRK law on defending the rights and interests of overseas Koreans.

They will be made to pay a dear price for their moves to destroy the national education of Koreans.