A/HRC/25/CRP.1 290. Factors in determining social class include family origins. Koreans who had resided in Japan and emigrated to the DPRK between 1959 and 1980 (called “returnees”), together with their descendants are estimated to number between 100,000 and 150,000.323 These Koreans were drawn to the DPRK by propaganda and promises of opportunity, as well as widespread discrimination against ethnic Koreans in Japan. Upon arrival, they were not permitted to leave the DPRK. They were, however, allowed to solicit money transfers from relatives in Japan which provided much-needed foreign reserves for the DPRK. The government operated hard currency stores for luxury goods like televisions and refrigerators and other items not generally available to average DPRK citizens. These remittances provided former Japanese residents with better clothes and food, which fueled some degree of resentment amongst their less fortunate compatriots. 291. In 1960, the Hungarian Ambassador to the DPRK, Károly Práth, noted the situation of almost 31,000 Koreans from Japan who had arrived in the DPRK: “Apart from formalities, the Korean workers do not like the repatriates very much. They have several reasons for that: 1) A great number of people have been removed from their flats so as to provide adequate flats for the repatriates; 2) In the factories, they get strikingly high wages; 3) They occupy a privileged position in food-supply; 4) Work discipline is less binding on them (at least they are not taken to task in the same way as others); 5) In respect of clothing and way of life, they are different from the local people.”324 292. Several witnesses recounted discrimination suffered as children where they were ostracized by teachers and other students for their family origins. • Ms Chiba Yumiko, a former Japanese “returnee”, testified in the Tokyo Public Hearing about her experience in the DPRK. She noted that discrimination against “returnees” was rampant. She recalled teachers and students tearing her Japanese clothes if she wore them to school, and being constantly told that she was stupid to wear Japanese clothes.325 293. The “returnees” from Japan could afford to eat rice, the preferred staple of Koreans, while most DPRK citizens had to make do with corn and barley. The former residents of Japan remained isolated and interacted mostly with their own community rather than integrating into DPRK society. 294. Despite the relative prosperity of the group, they were seen to be politically suspect because they had come from outside the country, and particularly because they were from Japan, considered the mortal enemy of the DPRK. • For example, a witness, who had been born in Japan, noted that if a person had an issue with his or her songbun status, he or she would not be allowed to travel overseas. In order to visit other countries, a person was obliged to get a signature from the SSD office. However, the SSD officer would not trust a person of low 323 324 325 82 See section IV.F. “Report, Embassy of Hungary in North Korea to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry”, 01 August 1960, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, MOL, XIX-J-1-j Korea, 5. doboz, 5/ca, 004238/1/1960. Translated for NKIDP by Balazs Szalontai. Available from http://digitalarchive.wilsoncentre.org/document/113409. Confidential interview and Tokyo Public Hearing, 30 August 2013, morning. TAP001 from Japan said that her family was discriminated against because they were not originally from the village where they now lived. As a child, others used to stay away from her and not play with her, although over time this decreased.