Responding to Susan Menadue-Chun's Nov. 15 letter, "SPRs have suffered enough," I wish to emphasize that, in my Nov. 11 letter, I was posing a rhetorical question rather than advocating that "Special Permanent Residents," including those with ties to pro-North Korea groups, be subject to the new biometric screening procedure upon re-entering Japan.
To restate my point: Why are such foreign residents exempt from the procedure (which is being implemented as part of Japan's contribution to the "war on terror") when the Japanese government strenuously objects to Washington's plan to de-list Pyongyang from its list of nations sponsoring terrorism, and since 2002 has been carrying out a hysterical campaign of whipping up anti-North Korean sentiment in connection with the abduction issue, a campaign that doubtlessly has made life more difficult for all Korean residents in Japan?
I agree with Menadue-Chun that zainichi Koreans have suffered enough without having to endure further humiliation at the hands of Tokyo's bureaucratic clones. The motive of the new biometrics clearly is not stopping terrorism, but rather a new expression of Japan's deep-seated racism and xenophobia.