There’s a Korean saying, “in ten years, even the rivers and mountains change.” But Moon ki-soo, a fourth-generation son of a Korean family in Japan says that he and his family have kept their Korean identity for almost 100 years, fighting against discrimination along the way.

“We, descendants from Korea residing in Japan, choose our nationality twice in our lives,” Moon says to NK News. “When we’re young, our parents decide it for us but as we graduate from high school, we choose our own nationality.”

Moon, showing his ROK resident registration card for Korean nationals abroad, says he