 A few, such as Hong, attempted to stay aloof from either movement, and largely parted ways with his classmates.In 1914, Hong graduated in the 26th class of the Academy and was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Imperial Japanese Army, and in 1923 graduated from the Army War College.However, despite this, he secretly maintained his friendship with Ji and other anti-Japanese activists in the Korean Liberation Army, and even supported Ji's family with his own funds, an action which could have put Hong himself in danger if he made even a small mistake.With the implementation of the "sōshi-kaimei" policy, Hong was under strong pressure to change his Korean name to a Japanese-style name, but he ignored the pressure and in the end did not change his name and kept his surname as Hong.