Changing their names.

=Name Change= Korean cultural suppression peaked with the implementation of a name change law called, Sōshi-kaimei. Enacted in 1939, this law, or Ordinance 19, required Koreans to change their surnames, or family names, to Japanese surnames. Ironically, this law repealed another Ordinance from 1911, prohibiting Koreans from taking Japanese names. Ordinance 19’s goal was to force Japanese assimilation in Korea and to stamp out a Korean sense of national identity, and over 80 percent of Koreans complied with changing their names. Many have asserted that tactics to have Koreans go along with the name changes included harassment, threats, and compulsion. Outside of mainland Korea only about 14 percent of Koreans living in Japan changed their names.

After Korea became free in 1946, the "Name Restoration Order" was released. This document allowed Koreans to restore their Korean names if that was their wont, and it was issued by the United States Army Military Government on October 23, 1946.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Japanese_Name_Change_Bulletin_of_Taikyu_Court_.jpg/220px-Japanese_Name_Change_Bulletin_of_Taikyu_Court_.jpg

''Announcement of the Sōshi-kaimei policy

courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org''

Atkins, E. Taylor. Primitive Selves: Koreana in the Japanese Colonial Gaze, 1910-1945. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Preass, 2010. 23-44. Print.

"Key Points In Developments In East Asia >> 20th Century." Asia for Educators. Columbia University, n.d. Web. 8 Nov 2010. .