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Lee Jae-sul was born and raised in Tokyo but like thousands of Koreans
living in Japan, he's hoping North Korea will beat Japan in a World
Cup qualifier on Feb. 9.

Lee, 48, is one of 150,000 Korean residents of Japan with allegiance
to communist North Korea.

North Korea supporters account for a quarter of all Koreans in Japan,
many of whom are descendants of students and workers who came, or were
forcibly brought to Japan, while Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910
to 1945.

"Of course I will support the North Korean team because since my
elementary school days I have received an ethnic and ideological
education sympathetic to the North," said Lee.

Like many North Korean loyalists, Lee attended a school run by a
pro-Pyongyang residents' group, where he was taught to revere the
communist state and its leaders, whose portraits hang on classroom
walls.

Lee's affinity for a homeland he has never seen also reflects a sense
of alienation from Japanese society.

"We have not been treated as respectable human beings. We are
something like refugees here in Japan. No passports and no jobs for
us," lamented Lee, who works at a pinball parlour.

Job opportunities for pro-Pyongyang ethnic Koreans are limited largely
to firms run by members of their community such as the pachinko
pinball parlours, night clubs, barbecue restaurants and trading houses
specialising in business with North Korea.

"In Japanese society we are suffering from invisible pressure and
barriers," said Song Yun-bae, 41, who also works at a pachinko parlour
in Tokyo.

Japan and North Korea are vying for a World Cup berth at a time when
both are arguing over North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens
decades ago to train North Korean spies.

Japanese worries over the North's nuclear and missile programmes, and
Pyongyang's belief that Tokyo has not repented for its colonial-era
misdeeds have also prevented both countries from establishing
diplomatic ties.

"The public sentiments of the two countries, triggered by the
abduction issue, are worsening to a boiling point," said Pyon Jin-il,
a Korea expert in Tokyo.

"The soccer match is becoming something like a proxy war."

Legacy of past
Despite calls for calm, some worry that politics will mar the rivalry
on the pitch.

"I wonder how many people can separate politics and sports to watch
the game," said Ji Jong-man, 56, whose parents migrated to Japan
before World War Two.

The legacy of the past has left deep scars.

During Tokyo's often-brutal colonial rule, Koreans were banned from
using their own language and forced to adopt Japanese names. Thousands
of Korean women were made to serve as sex slaves for the Imperial
Japanese Army and about 2.1 million men were bought to Japan as forced
labourers during the colonial period.

Japan granted Koreans Japanese nationality during the colonial period
but stripped them of that status after World War Two, depriving them
of benefits reserved for Japanese nationals.

About 600,000 Koreans stayed in Japan, splitting into pro-North and
pro-South camps after the two Koreas were founded in 1948.

Loyalty to the North, however, has been strained for some after North
Korea admitted in 2002 that its agents had abducted Japanese nationals
to help train spies in the 1970s and 1980s.

A pro-Pyongyang group, the General Association of Korean Residents in
Japan (Chongryong), has suffered internal dissent brought on by
general disillusionment with the communist government in Pyongyang,
some Korea experts say.

"More and more disgruntled Korean residents have switched their
nationality from the North to South Korea," Pyon said.

J-league pros
Despite some shared grievances towards Japan, pro-South Korean
residents lean toward supporting the Japanese team.

"If I were to choose between North Korea and Japan, I would rather
support the Japanese team," said Chie Kanaumi, a 35-year-old housewife
near Tokyo, who uses a Japanese name.

Although many pro-South Korea residents retain South Korean
nationality, most have gone to Japanese state-run schools and tend to
be more assimilated.

Adding spice to Wednesday's match for Korean residents, two J-League
pros from the pro-Pyongyang community have been tapped for the North
Korean side.

"To beat Japan and win a World Cup berth has been my dream. I'm really
excited," 22-year-old Sanfrecce Hiroshima midfielder Ri Han-jae told a
news conference after being named to the team.

Ri will be joined by Nagoya Grampus Eight midfielder An Yong-hak, 26,
who has said he was honoured but a bit anxious about playing with
compatriots from a country about which he knows little.

"As a player from Japan, I can't help but feel nervous," he said in a
recent interview with the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

"I stand out from the rest of the team," added An, whose hair has been
trimmed to fit with his closely cropped team mates.