▲ This file image, captured from footage of North Korea's state-run TV on March 23, 2026, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un attending the first session of the 15th Supreme People's Assembly the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

NK leader-Japan

N. Korea's Kim sends educational aid to pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans in Japan

SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has sent an educational aid fund and stipends to an association of pro-Pyongyang residents in Japan to mark this week's 114th birthday of late state founder Kim Il-sung, the North's state media reported Tuesday.

Kim sent 316.4 million yen (US$1.98 million) in such funds to the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan for "democratic national education of Korean children in Japan" to mark the founder's birthday that falls on April 15, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Since taking office in late 2011, Kim has sent educational aid funds and scholarships every year to the association around his late grandfather's birthday.

Kim Il-sung; Kim Jong-il, late father of the incumbent leader; and Kim Jong-un have sent a total of 50.3 billion yen on 172 occasions to children of pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans in Japan, the KCNA said.

Experts said Kim Jong-un appears to have an intent to use the education aid to elicit loyalty from young ethnic Koreans in Japan. His late mother Ko Yong-hui was a Korean resident in Japan, which North Korea views as having a low societal status in the North.

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