From 1997, I started taking photographs of what I prefer to call "Japanese houses," the modern architecture built during the Japanese colonial period (1909-1945), which are located at Ganggyeong-eup of Nonsan, Chungnam Province.

At the end of the Joseon era, Ganggyeong was one of the three major markets along with Pyeongyang and Daegu. Ganggyeong was the seafood-trading center for goods caught in the Yellow Sea in the west, while Wonsan in North Korea was the center for fish caught in the East Sea. The market at Ganggyeong spread as far as 4 kilometers from the town hall as it covered the whole Gyeonggi, Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces.

However, the buildings like the town head's residence and the Oriental Colonization Company's Ganggyeong office were demolished long ago and the act of tearing down Japanese-style houses built during the colonial period is still continuing throughout Korea.

When I suddenly noticed one day that the Oriental Colonial Company's Ganggyeong Office existed no more, I was stunned and at a loss. I couldn't care about the artistic details and so on, I thought keeping a record was the most important thing of all. As a documentary photographer, I decided to worry about the academic meanings later on and started a journey of keeping a record of buildings built during the Japanese colonial years throughout Korea at Gunsan, Mokpo, Sorok-do, Jinhae, Busan, Daegu and Incheon. I discovered that that the Japanese-style houses were being destroyed at a faster rate in small and middle-size cities rather than the metropolitan areas, so I postponed covering Seoul until last.

During the week I work busily as a photojournalist, therefore, I go to take shots of these old buildings on Sundays and on holidays. I am no historian or an architect but as a photographer, I hereby record modern buildings that are disappearing below the surface of the earth and history without any measures to protect them under the name of development.

While taking these photographs, I couldn't help being conscious of the Korean word "Jeoksan" which is used to represent the Japanese-style buildings. "Jeoksan" means in Chinese characters "enemy's property."

I strongly oppose using the word "Jeoksan." Any architectural style that was popular in Korea and buildings that were built in Korea are our buildings and our houses. Using the word "Jeoksan" evokes an inferiority complex of the Japanese colonial days, which ended before I was even born, yet still oppresses the minds of all Koreans. I believe that if we ignore and neglect great buildings of historic value just because they were built during the Japanese colonial times, we are denying our own identities. In my opinion, Koreans should now cast away their childish thoughts of being victimized by Japan and start showing love for the few remaining modern buildings. Even were we to continue to deliberately get rid of these architectural structures, I doubt it can eradicate the Japanese colonial days from our history.