Restoring Japanese-style Place Names to Korean... Chungnam Investigates 30,000 Cases by 2022

[Asia Economy (Naepo) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Chungnam Province is promoting a project to discover Japanese-style place names and restore them to Korean place names.

On the 18th, the province announced that it held a kickoff meeting for the "Investigation and Research Service on Japanese-style Place Names" at the provincial office. The meeting was attended by experts in history, geography, and Korean language, as well as officials in charge of place name affairs from cities and counties. The purpose is to investigate and organize Japanese-style place names created during the Japanese colonial period, eliminate remnants of Japanese colonial rule, and establish traditional and historical significance in the study of Chungnam place names.

The research service will be conducted over three years from this year to 2022 by the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation of Kongju National University. Through this research, the province plans to investigate a total of 30,212 place names within the province (12,322 officially announced, 17,890 unofficial) including those with derogatory meanings, distorted Chinese characters, simplifications, Japanese-style Chinese characters, and simple compound place names.

First, this year, the province will invest 200 million KRW to investigate 6,042 place names mainly in Asan City and Geumsan and Seocheon Counties, aiming to discover Japanese-style place names. Next year, it will investigate 12,086 place names mainly in Cheonan, Boryeong, Seosan, Nonsan cities and Cheongyang and Hongseong counties to identify Japanese-style place names.

The investigated place names will later undergo literature review and hearings of expert and resident opinions, after which the Place Name Committee will deliberate and decide on name changes.

Seo Un-seok, head of the Land Management Division of the province, said, "Place names can cause conflicts between regions and residents, so this matter must be approached very carefully," adding, "The province will correct place names that are remnants of Japanese colonial rule through cooperation with each city and county to restore our national identity and establish our subjectivity."