Nevertheless, the South Korean population continues to identify itself as danil minjok (; Hanja: 單一民族, "one people") joined by a common "bloodline". As a result, renewed emphasis on the purity of the Korean "blood" has caused tensions, leading to renewed debates on multi-ethnicity and racism both in South Korea and abroad by Koreans. Korean racial nationalism has also been described as constituting a civic religion of sorts. As BR Myers explores in his book The Cleanest Race, Koreans (both North and South) possess a strong sense of 'ethnic pride', driven in part by how more powerful neighbors (Japan, China) bullied Korea throughout its history. Some South Koreans argue that 'Korean ethnic nationalism' cannot be equated with 'racism' or 'racial nationalism' in the Japanese or Western sense. According to them, because of Korea's historical specificity, 'Korean ethnic nationalism' can coexist with 'civic nationalism'. Some view that criticism of Korean ethnic nationalism is inappropriate because it is an overly Western-centered analysis. They usually point to "pro-Japanese colonialism" and "white supremacy" based on "GDP racism" in South Korean society and internalized racism, it is not Korean ethnic nationalist-based racism. History Early usage and origins The earliest recorded forms of a unified Korean nationalism are recorded in the 16th century during the Japanese Invasions of Korea. The rise of the 'uibyeong' or 'righteous armies' formed amongst civilians due to the relatively strong conception of national identity. Contemporary Korean ideology of a "pure Korean race" began in the early 20th century when the Japanese annexed Korea and launched a campaign to persuade them that they were of the same pure racial stock as the Japanese themselves. In the colonial period, the Imperial Japanese's assimilation policy claimed that Koreans and Japanese were of common origin but the former always subordinate. The pure blood theory was used to justify colonialist policies and to replace Korean cultural traditions with Japanese ones in order to supposedly get rid of all distinctions and achieve equality between Koreans and Japanese. As was previously done with the Ainu and Ryukyuans, Japan's extensive policy of cultural genocide included changing Korean names into Japanese, exclusive use of Japanese language, school instruction in the Japanese "ethical system", and Shinto worship. Brian Reynolds Myers, a professor at Dongseo University, argues that seeing the failure of the pure assimilationist policy, Japanese imperial ideologues changed their policy into creating a Korean ethnic-patriotism on par with the Japanese one.