Japanese Korean activist’s takedown of far right goes viral online with 10 million views

In a 1996 debate program on Japan’s Asahi TV, right-wing commentators mocked former Korean comfort women for demanding an apology, sneering, “Isn’t all they want compensation?” A woman in a red jacket calmly rebuked them: “That is an expression that insults human beings. Every person has dignity, and that is why their honor must also be restored.”

Throughout the debate, she maintained her composure, elegantly dismantling the right-wing commentators’ distorted arguments point by point. The footage, still widely discussed today, has amassed 10 million views across YouTube and other social media platforms.

The woman in the debate was Shin Sugok, a third-generation Zainichi — an ethnically Korean resident of Japan. At the time, she was an entrepreneur running a corporate consulting firm, as well as an author, critic and lecturer. She had achieved an unusually high level of success for a Zainichi woman. Despite countless threats from far-right groups in Japan, she has continued her activism for decades.

A documentary film titled “Horoomon,” which chronicles Shin’s life — a story still largely unfamiliar to audiences in her ancestral homeland — opened Wednesday. Shin, who traveled to Korea for the film’s release, spoke with Hankook Ilbo at Art Nine, an independent theater in Seoul’s Dongjak District on Nov 5.

The film’s title, “Horoomon,” is a Japanese term for the offal of pigs or cattle. It symbolizes the difficult lives and struggles for survival of Korean residents in Japan, who once relied on discarded animal intestines for food amid extreme poverty and discrimination.

Shin grew up in abject poverty. After graduating from high school, she laid the foundations for her business through modeling work and countless part-time jobs. At a time when ethnic Koreans were routinely denied office leases and bank loans, she insisted on using her Korean name rather than adopting a Japanese one. She also introduced herself using a derogatory Japanese term for Koreans.

Although she was on her way to building a successful business career, her life took a turn in 2000 following xenophobic remarks by then-Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara. Shin demanded an apology from Ishihara after he claimed that “third-country nationals” were committing heinous crimes and could potentially incite riots.

After she challenged the Tokyo governor, her business clients disappeared one after another. Rather than remain silent, she chose to take on discrimination. Devoting herself to human rights activism, she founded the international network Norikoe Net in 2013 to fight hate speech and racial discrimination, and currently serves as its co-chair.

Life as a social activist was far from easy. In 2017, right-wing commentators appearing on DHC Television’s program “News Joshi” spread false claims that Shin had received money from North Korea to support a peace movement in Okinawa. She subsequently became a target of the far right, enduring stalking and death threats.

Shin filed a defamation lawsuit against DHC. In 2023, she secured a final court victory, with the broadcaster ordered to pay 5.5 million yen in damages and publish an apology.

What has sustained her through a lifetime of struggle? Shin said, “You gain courage by learning history.”

Pointing to how Korea achieved democracy despite enduring Japanese colonial rule and military dictatorship, she said, “What helped me grow was Korea’s modern history. It made me think that I, too, should live a life I wouldn’t be ashamed of.”

The allies and adversaries she encountered were not necessarily whom one might expect. The people who made her life most difficult were Korean men living in Japan. They fiercely criticized her activism, arguing that speaking out would only intensify discrimination against Koreans in Japan.

“Japanese minorities, including people with disabilities and victims of human trafficking, reached out and took my hand,” she recalled.

She refuses to give up the fight because she wants the next generation to be able to benefit from the struggles of those who came before them without having to endure the same hardships.

“We had such a difficult life, but if the next generation can have dreams and enjoy their lives, then I’ve won,” she said. “Instead of telling children to ‘be strong’ because discrimination is so severe, we need to change the society that discriminates against them.”

The film also sheds light on a century of Korean Japanese history through the intersecting lives of three generations of women: her maternal grandmother, Lee Baek-ran, who was born in 1901 and sold to a Japanese factory as a child; her mother, Keiko, born in 1934, who avoided her own parents for fear that others would discover they were Korean; and Shin herself, born in 1959.

The suffering they endured and Shin’s relentless struggle have left audiences deeply moved. The film offers a model of courage as people stand up against discrimination, however small the act may be.

Toward the end of the interview, Shin offered a piece of advice.

“I think the most important thing is not to tolerate discrimination, no matter how small it may seem. Small things can grow into something very difficult to deal with, so don’t put up with them.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.