Most graduates from Korean high schools matriculate to college or technical schools. Some graduates take over family businesses and some others work at financial institutions operated by Korean residents in Japan.
Recently, the number of those who go directly into the workforce after graduation has been decreasing, most graduates from Korean high schools go to college or technical schools.
For example, the school information pamphlet of Tokyo Korean School issued in 2015 says that over the past five years on average 32.5% of graduates went to Korea University in Tokyo, 31.2% to Japanese universities, 16.5% to technical schools, 10.3% went abroad to study and 9.1% went into the workforce.
Graduates from colleges find careers as teachers in Korean schools, activists who support the local Korean communities, professionals with Japanese national qualifications such as lawyers and academics in Japanese universities. Furthermore there are professional athletes in soccer, rugby and boxing. Some well known names are Ryang Yong-Gi and Jong Tae-Se, the J-league soccer players who were selected as members of the DPRK national team and Hong Chang-Su, the former boxing world champion. Seo Gil-Ryong is another well-known top athlete in the rugby world. In other fields Korean school alumni are singers, actors, journalists, company employees, NPOs and NGOs workers, flight attendants and designers. Most of the lawyers who have been handling the court cases for the exclusion of Korean high school students from the “Tuition Waiver and Tuition Support Fund Program” are graduates from Korean high schools or Korea University.
Many of the graduates who have established their successful careers commend the Korean schools for helping them nurture their positive identity as a Korean in Japan. They also acknowledge how the support of the Korean community such as Korean teaches, parents and other fellows has helped them overcome adversities.