The Zainich Korean Bengoshi Kyoukai is an organization established in May 2001 that the Korean Japanese lawyers in Japan and judicial apprentices in Japan participate in.
It is referred to in English as the Lawyers' Association of ZAINICHI Korean, abbreviated as “LAZAK”.
The Lawyers' Association of ZAINICHI Korean (LAZAK) was established in Tokyo in May 2001 by 28 founding members as an association of ZAINICH lawyers, and then through reorganization into the Lawyers' Association of ZAINICHI Korean in June 2002, the Korean Japanese lawyers and judicial apprentices from all over Japan are participating in.
Reasons for the naming of the Association
We named our association the Lawyers' Association of ZAINICHI Korean for the following reasons.
First of all, due to the reality of a divided situation of the Korean peninsula, the political confrontation between the South and the North has long been affecting the Korean-Japanese community. As a result, the two terms "South Korean descendants in Japan" and "North Korean descendants in Japan" have been used. And even a new term of “South and North Korean descendants in Japan” was introduced in order to overcome the divided situation.
On the other hand, there is a fact that about 10,000 Koreans acquired Japanese citizenship in recent years.
Based on this history and reality, we, as a group of Japanese Korean lawyers who consider their ethnicity to be Korean, chose the term "ZAINICHI KOREAN" which has recently become widely used. The reason why we used the term "ZAINICHI KOREAN" instead of "KOREAN in JAPAN" is because the nationality, language, culture, and customs of Koreans living in Japan have been so diversified that it makes "ZAINICHI KOREAN" the most suitable name of an ethnic group for us to call ourselves.
Currently, as for the pronunciation of the names, some members use Korean pronunciation and some use Japanese pronunciation. And there are some others who use their Japanese names while thinking of their own ethnicity as Korean.
