Korean Residents Meet to Celebrate Chongryun's 45th Birthday
Photo shows the opening of the festival commemorating the 45th anniversary of the foundation of Chongryun.
A large number of number of Korean residents in Japan gathered on May 21 at the Tokyo Cultural Hall to celebrate the 45th birthday of their organization, Chongryun (the General Association of Korea Residents in Japan), which fell on May 25, and heard Chongryun leaders vow to promote their patriotic movement in Japan and devote themselves to the prosperity of their fatherland.
Participating in the meeting were Chongryun First Vice Chairman So Man Sul, Chief Vice Chairman Ho Jong Man and other high-ranking officials.
Chongryun has promoted its movement by putting their third generation compatriots in the first places in all fields of activity to enable them to display his or her acvanced ideas and creativity in their patriotic movement.
Since the Third Plenary Meeting of the 18th Central Committee of Chongryun held in Sept. 21 last year, Chongryun has given priority to its policy of putting emphasis on helping Koreans here in their daily life Koreans here rather than on stressing the political ideology of their its fatherland.
The central meeting was followed by a music performance by the Pyongyang Troupe that was visiting Japan from the DPRK to add luster to the meeting of Chongryun's 45th birthday.
Other Korean residents in Japan also celebrated Chongryun's 45th founding anniversary with various events, looking back on its 45 year-long history, such as photo exhibitions and art exhibitions, all Koreans from the first generation to fourth generation singing and dancing together.
What is Chongryun?
Chongryun was founded on May 25, 1955, as a mass body to defend the national rights of permanent Korean residents in Japan as herald the movement for prosperity and national reunification of their fatherland.
Chongryun now has a central headquarters, 48 prefectural headquarters, some 300chapers and some 1,800 subchapters20 members' organizations such as a Buddhists federation, a medical association and a lawyers' association, and 29 concerns including newspapers, a news agency, an opera troupe and a marriage constancy center.
Chongryun is also proud of its systematic national education for Korean children in Japan. The group runs 141 schools ranging from kindergartens to a university.
A scene of a music performance of the Pyongyang Troupe came from the DPRK, singing Korean folk songs.
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