Chōsen gakkō

Chōsen gakkō (Japanese: 朝鮮学校; Korean: 조선학교; MR: Chosŏn hakkyo) are North Korean schools in Japan. "Chōsen" means Korean and "gakkō" means school. They are affiliated with the Chongryon (the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) which has strong ties to North Korea. Sometimes Chōsen gakkō schools are referred to as Chongryon schools.

They teach loyalty to the North Korean regime and hostility to the Western Bloc. Their students are born in Japan, but the lesson has a distinctive North Korean perspective. Japan has no control over the curriculum.

As of 2012, there were 135 Chōsen schools in Japan: 38 kindergartens, 54 elementary schools, 33 middle schools and 10 high schools, along with Korea University (not to be confused with Korea University in Seoul).

As of 2014, there were about 150,000 Zainichi Koreans affiliated with the Chongryon in Japan, and they form the clientele of the schools. As of 2013, these schools had almost 9,000 ethnic Korean students.

The vast majority of Koreans in Japan do not attend Chōsen gakkō. For example, 87% of Koreans in Osaka attend wholly Japanese schools which make no provisions for bilingual education.

They are distinct from Kankoku gakkō (한국학교, 韓國學校, 韓国学校, Hanguk hakgyo) which are overseas South Korean schools (재외한국학교, 在外韓國學校, 在外韓国学校, zaigai Kankoku gakkō/jaeoe Hanguk hakgyo) in Japan, which receive approval from the South Korean government and incorporate the South Korean educational curriculum and regular Japanese curriculum.