Editing Demographics of North Korea (section)

==Koreans living overseas==
Large-scale emigration from Korea began around 1904 and continued until the end of World War II.<ref name=":4" /> During the [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese colonial occupation]] (1910–1945), many Koreans emigrated to: China (particularly [[Northeast China]]), the [[Soviet Union]], [[Hawaii]], and the [[contiguous United States]].<ref name=":5">{{Harvnb|Savada|1994|p=60}}.</ref> People from Korea's northern provinces went primarily to Manchuria, China, and [[Siberia]]; many of those from the southern provinces went to Japan.<ref name=":5" /> Most emigrants left for economic reasons because employment opportunities were scarce; many Korean farmers had lost their land after the Japanese colonial government introduced a system of private land tenure, imposed higher land taxes, and promoted the growth of an absentee landlord class charging exorbitant rents.<ref name=":5" />

In the 1980s, more than 4 million ethnic Koreans lived outside the peninsula. The largest group, about 1.7 million people, lived in China (''see [[Koreans in China]]''); most had assumed Chinese citizenship.<ref name=":5" /> Approximately 1 million Koreans, almost exclusively from South Korea, lived in North America (''see [[Korean Americans]]'').<ref name=":5" /> About 389,000 ethnic Koreans resided in the former Soviet Union (''see [[Koryosaram]] and [[Sakhalin Koreans]]'').<ref name=":5" /> One observer noted that Koreans have been so successful in running collective farms in Soviet Central Asia that being Korean is often associated by other citizens with being rich.<ref name=":5" /> As a result, there is growing antagonism against Koreans.<ref name=":5" /> Smaller groups of Koreans are found in Central America and South America (85,000), the Middle East (62,000), Europe (40,000), Asia (27,000), and Africa (25,000).<ref name=":5" />

Many of Japan's approximately 680,000 Koreans have below average standards of living.<ref name=":5" /> This is partly because of discrimination by the Japanese. Many resident Koreans, loyal to North Korea, remain separate from, and often hostile to, the Japanese social mainstream.<ref name=":5" /> The pro-North Korean [[Chongryon]] (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) initially was more successful than the pro-South Korean [[Mindan]] (Association for Korean Residents in Japan) in attracting adherents.<ref name=":5" /> However, the widening disparity between the political and economic conditions of the two Koreas has since made [[Mindan]] the larger and certainly the less politically controversial faction.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} In addition, third- and fourth-generation Zainichi Chosenjin have largely given up active participation or loyalty to the Chongryon ideology.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} Reasons stated for this increased disassociation include widespread mainstream tolerance of Koreans by Japanese in recent years, greatly reducing the need to rely on Chongryon and the increasing unpopularity of [[Kim Jong Il]] even among loyal members of Chongryon.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Between 1959 and 1982, Chongryon encouraged the repatriation of [[Zainichi Korean|Korean residents in Japan]] to North Korea.<ref name=":5" /> More than 93,000 Koreans left Japan, the majority (80,000 persons) in 1960 and 1961.<ref name=":5" /> Thereafter, the number of repatriates declined, apparently because of reports of hardships suffered by their compatriots.<ref name=":5" /> Approximately 6,637 [[Japanese people in North Korea|Japanese wives accompanied their husbands to North Korea]], of whom about 1,828 retained Japanese citizenship in the early 1990s.<ref name=":5" /> Pyongyang had originally promised that the wives could return home every two or three years to visit their relatives.<ref name=":5" /> In fact, however, they are not allowed to do so, and few have had contact with their families in Japan.<ref name=":5" /> In normalization talks [[Japan-Korea relations|between North Korean and Japanese]] officials in the early 1990s, the latter urged unsuccessfully that the wives be allowed to make home visits.<ref>{{Harvnb|Savada|1994|p=61}}.</ref> According to a defector, himself a former returnee, many petitioned to be returned to Japan and in response were sent to [[Human rights in North Korea#Internment camps for political prisoners|political prison camps]]. Japanese research puts the number of Zainichi Korean returnees condemned to prison camps at around 10,000.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2631839.stm Spy's escape from North Korean 'hell'.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222202759/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2631839.stm |date=2006-02-22 }} news.bbc.co.uk</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080926140314/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0WDQ/is_2003_Nov_3/ai_109563584 N. Korean defector says best to leave North alone for now.]</ref>