8 Compared to Koryoin and Joseonjok, Zainichi occupy a grey area of national/ethnic categorization. Zainichi (literally ‘foreigners in Japan’) moved there in the early twentieth century, at the beginning of colonial rule. Many more arrived in the early 1950s, to escape the Korean War; thus the term includes the descendants of ethnic Koreans in Japan. The problems of modern Korean history, including the division of North from South, have placed Zainichi Koreans in a particularly intricate web of identity in terms of both their citizenship and their nationality. They are among the largest minority populations in Japan, but few hold Japanese citizenship; instead, they are categorized as citizens of either South or North Korea. Nonetheless, as people who have been assimilated or born into Japanese culture, they are not readily accepted back into the land of their origins. See
Cho, Kyong-hee, ‘South Korean Society's Perception of Zainichi Koreans’, Hwanghae Culture (Hwanghae munhwa), 57 (2007), pp. 46–75
Google Scholar;
Kim, Tae-man, ‘Trauma of Japanese Korean Diaspora’, North East Asian Cultural Studies (Dongbukahmunhwa yonku), 25 (2010), pp. 371–87Google Scholar; and
Kim, Gwi-ok, ‘Korean Division and Korean Diaspora: Focusing on Korean Residents in Japan’, Historical Criticism (Yoksabipyong), 91 (2010), pp. 53–93
Google Scholar. Zainichi Koreans’ history and nationality are extremely complicated issues that require explanations beyond the scope of this article. Their treatment in An Eternal Parting is derived from arguments made by Kyung-sik Suh, a second-generation Zainichi currently residing in South Korea. See
Suh, Kyung-sik, Diaspora kihaeng: Ch'ubangdanghanchaui sison (The Journey of Diaspora: A Gaze of the Banished), trans. Kim, Hye-shin (Seoul: Dolbaegae, 2006)Google Scholar.
