Chungnam, Promoting Restoration of Place Names from Japanese Style to Korean Language

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province is promoting a restoration project to change Japanese-style place names to Korean place names.

On the 14th, the province announced that it held a completion report meeting for the "Investigation and Research Service on Japanese-style Place Names" at the provincial office. Experts in history, geography, Korean language, and place name officials from cities and counties attended the meeting.

The research service was conducted to investigate Japanese-style place names created during the Japanese colonial period, to eliminate remnants of Japanese rule, and to establish traditional and historical significance in local place names.

This year, 6,043 natural and artificial place names in three cities and counties?Asan, Geumsan, and Seocheon?were investigated. The method combined literature surveys before and after the Japanese colonial period with on-site investigations including interviews with local village heads and elders.

As a result, the province identified 141 suspected Japanese-style place names with distorted or simplified Chinese characters and 381 discarded or duplicate place names that had changed due to urban development or repeated naming in these areas.

Additionally, the province surveyed the origins of 3,889 unannounced place names that have not yet been officially designated, laying the groundwork for place name maintenance.

Based on this, the province plans to listen to opinions from advisory review committees and residents of each city and county to decide on place names reflecting local traditions and history, and then review and approve the names through city/county, provincial, and national place name committees.

The place name restoration project will expand next year to Boryeong, Nonsan, Gyeryong, Buyeo, Cheongyang, and Hongseong, investigating a total of 10,647 place names to identify and maintain the use of Japanese-style place names.

A provincial official stated, "Place names can cause conflicts between regions and residents, so a cautious approach is required. Considering this, the province plans to continue the place name restoration project next year in cooperation with each city and county."

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