The new administration said Friday the tuition waiver program covering pro-Pyongyang high schools in the country will not be extended because of the lack of progress in resolving the past abductions of Japanese nationals to North Korea, education minister Hakubun Shimomura said.
The measure reflects the tough stance taken toward North Korea by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a known foreign policy hawk, especially when it comes to Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s.
"The schools have close ties with the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon), and given the lack of progress on the abduction issue, (the public) will not understand if we provide the tuition waver to such schools," Shimomura told reporters.