Korea treaty September 12, out of the 100,000 people who assembled, as many as 40% were women.
JUST PLAIN "KOREA," PLEASE
An increasing number of Koreans, resident in Japan, are seeking to have their registration changed from citizens of South Korea to just plain "Korea." The Japanese government is resisting on the grounds that no such country exists.
The move of the Koreans began last March when it became clear that Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam might suck the entire area into a new major conflict. This coincided with the conclusion of a treaty between Japan and South Korea "normalizing" relations. For the Koreans in Japan, this meant they were subjects of the South Korean government, which most of them regard as a puppet creation of the United States.
If they could be listed as citizens of "Korea," however, as was the case before the country was artificially divided in half, they could escape the clutches of the South Korean government. In case of trouble they could always go to North Korea.
- The movement spread rapidly when it was widely reported that the South Korean government had decided to send troops to join the American invaders in Vietnam. It was learned that two Korean youths in Japan received draft papers. This stiffened the determination to get out of the South Korean citizenship trap.