‘Removing Japanese Names from Public Registers’ Joint Maintenance by Government and Local Authorities

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] As part of efforts to erase traces of Japanese colonial rule, the "Project to Erase Japanese Names from Official Registers" is being promoted.

The Public Procurement Service announced on the 11th that, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Liberation Day this year, a joint project between central and local governments will be carried out to erase Japanese names from official registers.

The core of this project is to systematically organize approximately 104,000 cases where Japanese-style names remain in official registers such as certified copies of registries.

To this end, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Public Procurement Service, among central government agencies, established a collaborative system last year through joint efforts with related organizations. They secured data such as certified copies of registries and land and forest registers to select targets requiring investigation and maintenance.

Additionally, in June, the Public Procurement Service provided all local governments nationwide with building and land details along with maintenance manuals. Based on the provided information, each local government will complete the first basic survey and classification by July 14.

Subsequently, local governments will proactively organize cases classified as "changsi gaemyung" (name changes imposed during Japanese colonial rule) and Japanese-style names that exist nominally even if there is no actual substance, based on the results of the first basic survey.

In this process, properties suspected to be attributed assets will be transferred to the Public Procurement Service, which will conduct a second in-depth investigation including on-site inspections, followed by procedures for nationalization.

Jung Moo-kyung, Administrator of the Public Procurement Service, stated, "We will carry out the maintenance of official registers containing Japanese-style names in collaboration with related agencies. Through this, the Public Procurement Service will actively strive to pass on accurate history to future generations."

Meanwhile, the reason Japanese-style names still remain in official registers even after Liberation is understood to be due to the passive nature of the post-colonial purge efforts and the inability to forcibly restore the names of individuals who had undergone changsi gaemyung, resulting in the continued use of Japanese-style names.

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