Hamyang-gun Promotes Korean Language Project for Forest Land Register

Providing Services for Addressing Complaints Including the Elimination of Japanese Colonial Residues

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Hamyang-gun, Gyeongnam Province, is currently promoting a project to convert the old land (forest) register, created during the Japanese colonial period and still used as basic data for land administration, into Hangul and to digitize it.

This Hangul conversion project involves an investment of approximately 540 million KRW to scan the old land (forest) register as images, then convert land indication details, transfer history, owner information, and more into Hangul for digital construction.

The land (forest) register is a representative cadastral record that allows verification of changes in land indication details (such as owner and area).

Gyeongnam Hamyang County Office.

However, since the old land (forest) register was created using Japanese-style Chinese characters under Japanese rule, even after 75 years since liberation, it remains written in Japanese-style notation and Chinese characters, causing difficulties in understanding and identification.

Accordingly, the county completed the first phase of conversion in 2022 for three towns and townships (Hamyang-eup, Macheon-myeon, Hyucheon-myeon), and aims to complete the project over three years with the second phase in 2023 and the third phase in 2024.

This project is being implemented ahead of other areas in the province, with Yurim-myeon, Sudong-myeon, Jigok-myeon, and Anui-myeon targeted this year.

Upon completion, the project will not only eliminate remnants of Japanese colonial rule and enable perfect digitization of permanently preserved documents, but also provide high-quality cadastral civil services by displaying information in Hangul, which is easier for civil petitioners to understand.

The head of the Civil Service Department stated, “We will do our best to enhance the convenience of civil petitioners through the elimination of Japanese colonial remnants and provision of high-quality civil services,” adding, “We will actively promote the project so that it can serve as a model case for other local governments in the future.”