Pro-N. Korean schools' tuition likely to be free

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has decided to include pro-Pyongyang Korean schools in its policy that began in April of providing virtually free education at high schools.

An expert panel at the ministry has drawn up a report stating it is reasonable to apply the policy to the pro-Pyongyang high schools. The panel likely will release the report to the public as soon as Tuesday.

Education Minister Tatsuo Kawabata intends to respect the panel's decision and is considering announcing the school names sometime next month, according to sources close to the ministry.

However, as opinions differ within the Cabinet on how the policy should be applied, Kawabata intends to make a final decision only after discussing the issue with related ministers, the sources said.

Cabinet minister Hiroshi Nakai, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, and others opposed the tuition-free plan, saying it is inconsistent with the current situation in which the government imposes economic sanctions against North Korea and has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

In light of such concerns, the education ministry set up an expert panel to study the appropriateness of applying the policy to the pro-North Korean schools.

The ministry has ruled that foreign schools, such as international schools outside the national school system, are eligible in principle for free education. However, the pro-Pyongyang schools do not comply with the policy's criteria, which stipulate the schools must be equivalent to Japanese high schools through checks with the home countries concerned, or that their curricula are accredited by an international organization.

However, a majority of the expert panel thought it reasonable to consider the pro-North Korean schools as having similar courses as Japanese high schools because many Japanese universities have granted admission to graduates of the pro-Pyongyang schools, whose course of study somewhat follows their Japanese counterpart.

If the ministry decides in favor of the pro-North Korean schools, it will provide annual education grants of about 120,000 yen per student, backdated to April.