Japan/Korea: Japan's Korean Community Split on Politics.

Section: General News - About one million ethnic Koreans live in Japan, and just over half of them hold Korean nationality. Their community, which long faced discrimination in Japan, now faces a backlash because of North Korea's nuclear test.

Historical roots of conflict During Japan's colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 until its Second World War defeat in 1945, hundreds of thousands of Koreans settled in Japan. Some came of their own free will for work or education, others were conscripted into forced labor.

Many returned to their homeland after the war was over when Korea, divided into North and South, gained independence. Much like the peninsula itself, for many of the Koreans who stayed in …