After the liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, all the geological achievements made during the colonial period were handed over to Korean geologists. Korean geologists took up the task of evaluating Japanese geological achievements and setting their own academic goals. This paper traces the process in which the Korean geologists tried to overcome Japanese geology and laid the foundations for their own academic development. The post-colonial situation framed their academic efforts. By emphasizing pure academic research, Korean geologists tried to detach themselves from application-oriented Japanese colonial geology and shape their self-identity as Korean geologists who studied the Korean soil. In doing so, post-colonial Korean geologists held together mutually contradictory efforts of appropriating and breaking off from the colonial legacies, while combining them with diverse social factors to achieve their academic goals.