Comment by sneak
Asking the state for permission to travel and jumping through hoops thereby is obnoxious and offensive to me, and that’s even with the circumstance where the US recognizes me as a citizen.
I can imagine a lot of philosophical reasons why someone might not wish to jump through hoops to simply exist and receive the same treatment as everyone else.
In the OP’s case:
> Another question I often hear is: “Why don’t you just acquire Japanese citizenship?” Yes, it is an option. However, until recently, there was a rule requiring us to change the pronunciation of our name to the Japanese reading of the Chinese characters.
> For example, Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank. He once held the same status as mine. His original name was Son Jeong-ui, which is how you would pronounce those Chinese characters in Korean. When he naturalized, he became Masayoshi Son.
> For me, Taejun Shin would become “Yasutoshi Shin.” Taejun Shin, Yasutoshi Shin. Hmm, not.
> So, I decided not to change it. Even though the rules have relaxed somewhat now, I have lived with this identity for so long that I’m not inclined to alter it for now.
Sure. But the Korean War was in the 50s, all Chosen-seki in Japan are third generation by now, meaning both they and their parents grew up in Japan and have barely any connection to the Choson their grandparents left, much less the DPRK of today. So it just seems to be a bit of an odd hill to die on? If you feel more Korean, get a South Korean passport; if you feel more Japanese, get a Japanese one. (Hell, North Korea will happily issue them passports as well, they're just kind of useless for going anywhere!)
Also, for what it's worth, Chosen-seki in Japan are "special permanent residents" that can do basically anything a Japanese citizen can except vote. The travel restrictions for being stateless are not imposed on them by Japan, but by other countries, who generally view the stateless as extremely high risk for overstaying and/or claiming asylum.