The purpose of this study is to analyze the essays of Zainichi Korean Hansen people and to identify the discrimination they suffered. The Zainichi Korean Hansen people are Korean people who have taken root in the Korean peninsula and have developed Hansen's disease in Japan. In particular, the term Korean or Chosun is implied in the meaning of following South Korea or North Korea, so this paper intends to use the term Zainichi Korean.
The Zainichi Korean Hansen people published their first and second book in 1961 and 1962; these books were published in 1986 as “remote islands” in Korea. The book contains the life of a living in Zainichi Korean Hansen people in Japanese Hansen camp. In the 1950s, Zainichi Korean Hansen people were excluded from the pension system due to the revision of the National Pension Act in Japan, This is because the nationality of Zainichi Korean was not Japanese. In addition, Zainichi Korean Hansen people often maintained their nationality, not South Korean nationality or North Korean nationality. However, because the country of Joseon was already a country that disappeared from the earth through the Japanese colonial period, they were close to an non-national. The Japanese government did not mean to protect the existence of the non-nationals or to give pensions. The revision of the National Pension Act in Japan was an opportunity for Zainichi Korean Hansen people to reimprint their nationality.
In the Japanese Hansen camps, discrimination against Zainichi Korean Hansen people worked in a more covert way. On the surface, all Hansen’s people accepted under the principle of a good love affair were equal. Like other East Asian countries, Japan’s Hansen policies were centered on isolation and exclusion, so Hansen people’s sanatorium were forced to help each other. However, when the problem occurred, discrimination against Zainichi Korean Hansen people became a surface. In the end, it was confirmed through this study that Zainichi Korean Hansen people lived as Hansen and living a life as a colonial people who were discriminated against.