Hangul 조선적 Revised Romanization Joseonjeok | Hanja 朝鮮籍 McCune–Reischauer Chosŏnjŏk | |
Chōsen-seki (朝鮮籍, "Korean domicile") is an alternative nationality assigned to ethnic Koreans in Japan who have neither Japanese nor South Korean citizenship. This nationality is imputed to North Korean residents in Japan, as the Japanese government does not recognize the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a country.
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This non-conventional category does not have effective representation in the government.
Background
Chōsen-seki is a convention made by the Japanese government to register stateless Korean residents in Japan shortly after the Surrender of Japan. The Korean people originally had Japanese citizenship during the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula, but this was later revoked from the Koreans by the Allied Occupation, after Japan surrendered and gave up sovereignty over Korea.
Legal issues
On September 30, 2010, the Seoul High Court declared that an ethnic Korean from Japan with Chōsen-seki status is not a South Korean citizen and can be refused an entrance visa to South Korea.
Japan delegates family law issues involving foreigners to the foreigners' home country. For example, zainichi registered as South Korean have their wills determined by South Korean law. Chōsen-seki holders are arbitrarily assigned the family law of North or South Korea depending on whether they used the word "Chōsen" or "Kankoku" in official registration documents, as well as other considerations. Recently it has become more common to refer to South Korean law because it is easier to use. When North Korean law is employed, the court is often forced to fall back on Japanese law due to renvoi.