'No different from Japan's colonial renaming policy': Calls grow to change law forcing ethnic Korean immigrants to change ancestral clan
Published: 21 Nov. 2025, 07:00
![Park’s family registry certificate shows “Incheon” listed in the category indicating clan origin. [PARK YEON-HEE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/21/3e007586-0c28-4a47-9eb6-d43accc93c98.jpg)
Park’s family registry certificate shows “Incheon” listed in the category indicating clan origin. [PARK YEON-HEE]
A fresh start isn't what you always ask for, but it's what you might get. For many overseas Koreans who return to Korea and reacquire citizenship, they are often forced to start a whole new lineage of ancestry instead of joining their actual family of origin — sometimes to their unwelcome surprise.
“When people hear that I’m ‘Incheon Park,’ they think I’m an older woman named Park who lives in Incheon,” said Park Yeon-hee, 64, who became a naturalized Korean citizen in August 2024 and saw her family name change from Miryang Park to Incheon Park, contrary to their ancestral bon, their family clan.
While the pronunciation of the last name may be the same, the actual clan they are from differs depending on where one’s ancestral region was. Kims may not be the same Kims and Parks may not be the same Parks depending on where there family lineage can be traced back to. For example, there are reportedly over 100 different "Lee" clans in the country.
Park said she asked to keep her father’s family name, Miryang Park, when submitting her naturalization application, but the court told her to “submit a family genealogy or obtain proof from a clan association in Korea.”
The change turned out to be impossible, and with no surviving immediate relatives, Park eventually gave up and accepted the name Incheon Park.
Park added with a laugh, “My older sister is also trying to naturalize, and when I told her she might become Daegu Park because she lives in Daegu, she got angry and said, ‘How can something like that happen?’”
As the number of naturalized citizens rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, many new Korean surnames are emerging. Anyone choosing a new Korean name must also create a new surname. Well-known examples include Olympic marathoner Oh Joo-han, whose Kenyan name is Wilson Loyanae Erupe and who became the founder of the Cheongyang Oh clan, and television personality Ha Il, born Robert Harley in the United States, who became the founder of the Yeongdo Ha clan.
![Entertainner Ha Il, born Robert Harley [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/21/49da234d-be67-4829-bd41-ffa5dcf796cd.jpg)
Entertainner Ha Il, born Robert Harley [NEWS1]
Korean law allows naturalized citizens to create a new surname and bon. Article 96 of the Act on the Registration of Family Relations states that a naturalized citizen who does not wish to use a foreign surname must obtain approval from the family court with jurisdiction over their registered domicile or address and report the new surname and bon within one month of receiving the court’s certification.
This means that foreigners who want a Korean-style name must create a new surname and bon and receive court approval. The system was previously known as the approval for creating a new surname and bon but was revised in 2018.
The issue arises when ethnic Koreans from China or Russia apply for naturalization. The law still applies to overseas Koreans who already use Korean surnames inherited from their ancestors abroad. As a result, once they become Korean citizens, they are barred from using the surname they have used all their lives. Instead, they must create a new bon and become the unintended founder of a new clan.
“There are people worse off than me, like the Daerim Kim clan or the Guro Kim clan,” Park said with a wry smile, explaining how she became designated as an Incheon Park.
![Marathoner Oh Joo-han, born Wilson Loyanae Erupe [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/11/21/4f42edb6-344b-4048-afb2-cb139f5bb698.jpg)
Marathoner Oh Joo-han, born Wilson Loyanae Erupe [YONHAP]
“I’m now one of the founders of the Yeongdeungpo Kim clan,” said 60–year-old Kim Gwang-su. “I was originally Seonsan Kim, but they refused to recognize it, so I had to change.” He added, “When people ask, I tell them my original bon, but my child finds it uncomfortable, and I feel sorry that I couldn’t pass down our ancestral bon.”
Among naturalized ethnic Koreans who were unable to keep their ancestral bon, calls for revising the law have been growing.
“Forcing ethnic Koreans, who are descendants of the Korean people, to create new surnames and bons is no different from repeating the legacy of Japan’s colonial-era renaming policies,” said Kim Jeong-ryong, head of the Research Institute on Issues of Overseas Chinese-Koreans (translated). “It is disheartening to be denied recognition of one’s ancestral bon and be told to invent a bon that has never existed in history and become its founder.”
Experts also argue that ethnic Koreans should be treated differently from other foreigners and allowed to keep the bon they have long used.
“Preventing people from using their original surname not only disadvantages them personally but could also fuel social conflict or discrimination,” said lawyer Yoon Young-hwan of Duksu Law Firm, who heads the NGO Migrant Center Friend. “Since the bon system has effectively lost its function in Korean society — especially after the abolition of bans on marriage between people of the same surname and bon — it makes little difference how it is recognized.”
“It would be more reasonable for courts to ease the level of proof required and to recognize a person’s surname and bon based on their testimony and stated wishes if these designations no longer serve a significant social or legal purpose,” Yoon said.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM CHANG-YONG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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