Among the ethnic Korean minority in Japan, there seems to be a large contingent of hard-line supporters of the North Korean government. Why is this? I can understand why a Korean actually living in North Korea and unable to get news from the outside world might believe that the “Democratic Republic” is a true worker’s paradise, but in Japan? The Korean-Americans I know have no love for communism, and hold that Kim Il Sung destroyed their country. Is hatred of Japan so strong that Korean-Japanese will support whatever government is more confrontational with their former masters?
Purely speculation here, based on Soviet behavior:
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The pull of home - the “My country, right or wrong (and it’s pretty much always right by definition)” syndrome we see so much of in the US. These people grew up there, in some degree of isolation from outside influences, and could be sincere in their beliefs about its superiority.
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Being a totalitarian regime, maybe the North Korean government has political officers or spies keeping track of their expats, who are consequently in fear for their own or their relatives’ lives if they look unreliable.