The pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun) paid about 22 million yen in taxes Tuesday to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government following Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's decision to end the group's tax-exempt status.
The metropolitan government informed the headquarters of Chongryun in July that it had decided to impose fixed-asset and urban planning taxes worth a combined 42 million yen on its properties, payable in four installments.
Chongryun filed a complaint against the tax Sept. 3.
The following day, the metropolitan government began proceedings to seize the group's facilities because Chongryun had missed an installment deadline.
The first installment was due in late July.
The facilities facing seizure include the group's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.
Tuesday was the new deadline for the second installment, Chongryun officials said. The group did not pay delinquent charges on the overdue portion, they said.
O Hyong Jin, a vice chairman of Chongryun's central committee, said the group will continue fighting the tax through legal channels.
"The metropolitan government's coercive attitude has clear prejudicial and impure political intentions," O said. "The latest payment with reservations does not mean we are accepting the legitimacy of the taxation."