A Japanese appellate court has once again ruled in favor of the Japanese government’s policy to rule out ethnic Korean schools from its tuition-free programs. 

Japan’s Kyodo News said the Fukuoka High Court on Friday ruled against graduates of Kyushu Korean Junior-Senior High School, who sought to have the policy revoked as well as demanding around seven-point-five million yen in compensation. 

It was the latest ruling in five similar cases brought before appellate courts in Japan with all four rulings in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Hiroshima being made against Korean plaintiffs. 

The tuition-free policy was put in place in April of 2010 and was intended to benefit all schools in Japan, including foreign schools, but "Joseon" schools have been excluded from the measure following North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in South Korea in November of 2010. 

Japanese courts acknowledged Tokyo’s concerns that state financial assistance for ethnic Korean schools  may be misappropriated due to their close association with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, also known as Chongryon.