A completely different person at the company’s address… Why Osaka Korean School is trying to sell its land to a “mysterious company

The Korean Federation of Trade Unions of Japan is said to be in dire financial straits, but the Korean school in Osaka, which is under its umbrella, is secretly trying to sell its land. What is puzzling is who is selling the land. A small company in Tokyo is planning to purchase the land.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Osaka Korean Junior and Senior High School (Higashi Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture). The school’s site is now being sold.

The school is operated by the Osaka Choson Gakuen Educational Corporation. Korean schools are under the guidance of the Federation of Korean Industries, which supports North Korea, and are treated as “various types of schools,” unlike ordinary elementary, junior high, and high schools, as stipulated in Article 1 of the School Education Law. The school has a history of fighting in court with the national government over its exclusion from the free high school tuition system, and the school lost the case in 2007. The school lost a lawsuit in 2007, and the local government has also suspended subsidies, and the school is said to be in financial trouble.

A reporter for a national newspaper explained the school as follows: “There are several Korean schools in the prefecture.

In 2006, the school was merged with an intermediate school in the prefecture to create a six-year integrated junior and senior high school. The school had been sued by the city for occupying city-owned land as part of its grounds for many years, and a settlement was reached in ’09 for the school to purchase the land for approximately 146 million yen.

Osaka Korean Junior & Senior High School is also known for its sports activities, having produced a former WBA world super bantamweight boxing champion and several J-League players. In particular, the school has recently become known as a strong rugby school, and Japan’s national team player, Lee Seung Shin (Kobelco Kobe Steelers), is a graduate of the school.

We have heard that the school wants to sell the land, which is about 5,000 square meters, for between 4.5 and 5.5 billion yen. What is puzzling is that the prospective purchaser of the land is a small Tokyo-based film company called ‘X. This case reminds us of the problem of bad debts following the collapse of the Asagin Credit Union, which was funded with 1.36 trillion yen in public funds. With the disposal of the bad debts of the Chogin, the building of the central headquarters of the General Federation of Korean Industries was put up for auction, but after repeated bids and unsuccessful bids, the building was resold, and eventually the building returned under the influence of the Federation of Korean Industries. We suspect that this company X is also a dummy company for reselling the land,” said a public security official.

According to the registry of the school site, the owner of the land is the Osaka Choson Gakuen Educational Corporation. Indeed, on October 14 of this year, a reservation for sale was received from Tokyo-based Company X, and on October 20, a provisional registration of the right to claim transfer of ownership was made.

Furthermore, according to the registry of Company X, it was established in 1988 with a capital of 10 million yen. The company’s purpose was listed as “Planning, production, contracting, and sales of theatrical films,” “Sales and distribution of foreign films,” and “Training and mediation of entertainers.

The company and its representatives also seem to be involved in films with gangster and adult themes.

Why in the world would such a small film production company purchase a large plot of land in Osaka?

FRIDAY paid a visit to company X, where a surprising fact emerged.

A room in a building in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, registered as the headquarters of X Corp. had no nameplate. When I pressed the intercom, a female voice answered, “What? We are not a company. The woman said that she had lived in this room for more than 20 years and had never heard of Company X or its representative. We checked with the real estate company to be sure, but they gave the same answer. When we asked for the home address of the representative listed in the registry, a young man answered. However, he replied that he had never heard of the representative or the name of Company X.

Another public security official said.

This year, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has launched a record number of missiles and is actively engaged in weapons development. We need to keep a close eye on their movements to see if the funds from these unexplained land sales will not flow back to the North.

According to school officials, the school is scheduled to move to another location within the prefecture within the next school year, and when FRIDAY contacted the principal of Osaka Korean Intermediate and High School for an interview about the circumstances surrounding the land sale and the school’s relationship with X Corp.

When FRIDAY asked the principal of Osaka Korean Junior High School for an interview about the background of the land sale and the school’s relationship with X Corp.

In writing, the company refused to be interviewed, and even hinted at legal action.

What exactly do they mean by “disadvantageous to all concerned”? And what is behind the relocation of the school? Shouldn’t they first explain this?

From the December 30, 2022 issue of FRIDAY