Lee Jae-myung Draws the Sword for 'Eradicating Pro-Japanese Collaborators'... "There Will Be No World Where Three Generations Prosper by Being Pro-Japanese"

On the 13th, Gyeonggi Province labeled the actions of former governors confirmed to have pro-Japanese activities under their portraits in the large conference room on the 4th floor of the new government building, including their listing in the Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Collaborators.

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] "I will do my best to create a fair world where the saying 'If you collaborate with the Japanese, three generations prosper; if you join the independence movement, three generations perish' no longer applies."

Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, promised the 13.5 million residents of Gyeonggi to eradicate the remnants of Japanese colonial rule at the Memorial Day ceremony held at the Suwon Memorial Tower on June 6 last year.

Since then, the work to eliminate pro-Japanese remnants in Gyeonggi Province has been progressing at the "speed of light."

One month after Governor Lee's promise, in July last year, the province began a comprehensive survey of pro-Japanese remnants in the cultural sector within the province. Additionally, the "Gyeonggi-do Song (道歌)," whose composer was embroiled in controversy over pro-Japanese activities, was completely discarded. Furthermore, at the beginning of 2020, the province publicly disclosed on its website the pro-Japanese activities of some of the 35 former governors of Gyeonggi Province. Without Governor Lee's determination and firm identity, all of this would have been difficult.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 16th, since the 13th, the province has been listing the biographies and pro-Japanese activities of all 35 former governors from the 1st to the 35th on the "Former Governors" section of the Gyeonggi Province website.

The four governors identified as having pro-Japanese activities are the 1st Governor Gu Ja-ok, 2nd Governor Lee Hae-ik, 6th Governor Choi Moon-kyung, and 10th Governor Lee Heung-bae. All of them are listed in the "Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators" published by the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities.

Former Governor Gu Ja-ok (1946?1950) is included in the list of 705 pro-Japanese anti-national collaborators for publishing editorials praising Japanese imperialism and justifying Japan's aggressive war.

Former Governor Lee Hae-ik (1950?1952) actively carried out wartime duties during the Sino-Japanese War and is listed in the "Sino-Japanese War Meritorious Service Register." He also served as Director of the Local Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of the Interior and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.

Former Governor Choi Moon-kyung (May?October 1960) received the "2600th Anniversary of the Japanese Empire Commemorative Medal" from the Japanese government. After serving as governor, he held positions such as Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Honorary Professor at Kookmin University, and Director of the Busan United Nations Cemetery.

Former Governor Lee Heung-bae (1963?1964), like Lee Hae-ik, actively performed wartime duties during the Sino-Japanese War and is listed in the "Sino-Japanese War Meritorious Service Register."

The province has decided to include their pro-Japanese activities alongside their portraits in the frame of former governors displayed in the large conference room on the 4th floor of the new provincial government building.

Earlier, the province discarded the "Gyeonggi-do Song (道歌)" that had represented Gyeonggi Province for decades last year because the composer, Lee Heung-ryeol, was revealed to have pro-Japanese activities.

According to the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities' Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators, Lee Heung-ryeol was confirmed to have engaged in pro-Japanese activities, including serving as conductor of the Daehwa Orchestra, which was established during the Japanese colonial period with the purpose of "expelling anti-national music and establishing Japanese music."

Accordingly, the province held a contest for a new Gyeonggi-do Song from August 16 to November 8 last year. At that time, 223 lyrics and 158 compositions were submitted. However, the province could not select a work that met the criteria and decided to pursue a re-contest.

The province is also collecting opinions from the 31 cities and counties within the province by the end of this month to correct the distorted administrative district names (Changji Gaemyeong) imposed by Japan during the colonial period. If the respective cities and counties proceed with enacting or revising ordinances to change the names, the province plans to provide active administrative and financial support.

Under the current "Local Autonomy Act," the name changes of districts (gu) that are not autonomous districts, as well as towns (eup), townships (myeon), and neighborhoods (dong), are determined by ordinances of the respective cities and counties, and the results must be reported to the governor. The province has identified 160 distorted administrative district names within the province from the Japanese colonial period.

The most common type of distortion is composite place names, totaling 117. This is followed by place names created with numbers, directions, or locations in mind (11), Japanese-style place names (5), Sino-Korean place names (3), and names that downgrade status (2).

Examples of composite place names include Singal-dong (Yongin), which combines Sinchon and Gilchon villages. Namsa-myeon (Yongin), created by merging four southern townships, is a representative example of a place name based on numbers, directions, or locations.

Additionally, the province plans to announce the results of a comprehensive survey of local pro-Japanese cultural remnants, which will serve as a guide for the eradication work, around April. The province conducted this comprehensive survey of cultural remnants within the province by the end of last year after a public service contract competition.

A provincial official emphasized, "There are many pro-Japanese remnants around our daily lives, knowingly or unknowingly. Once the survey report is released, we plan to build a digital archive to store pro-Japanese records and conduct campaigns, promoting the eradication of pro-Japanese remnants on a case-by-case basis."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.