Korean Independence Movement Day

By Charles Murray

On March 1 of this year, Koreans celebrated one of their most important national holidays, Korean Independence Movement Day. It has been called Korea’s “Easter Rising” (after the 1916 Irish rebellion against British rule) and holds a powerful significance for Koreans as a day to celebrate its nation’s independence from all foreign powers.

Also known as Samil, this is a day for serious reflection for Koreans regarding Korea’s hard-won liberation, and the long, brutal journey that was required to attain it.

The first Independence Movement Day occurred on March 1, 1919, when the Korean people decided to create a fierce resistance to the vicious and degrading Japanese colonial rule which had begun in 1910 and lasted until 1945. It was after this day that the Korean people began to organize strikes and intellectual resistance to Japan’s dictatorial occupation.

The roots of this galvanizing movement can be traced to An Chang-ho, widely known by his nom de plume, “Dosan”. Dosan had been in the United States for years but returned in 1907, eager to help his country modernize its schools and reform its education system, as well as to ignite its patriotic zeal. He established the Shinminhoe (New Korea Society) upon returning to his homeland in order to fight the Japanese Occupation, and many great Korean patriots got their start there, including An Chung-gun, who later assassinated the Japanese resident General of Korea, Ito Hiroburi.

Dosan was thrown in prison more than five times by the Japanese for his fervent patriotic activities, as well as for his connection with Ahn Chung-gun’s assassination of Hiroburi. He was also tortured mercilessly for his refusal to abandon the cause of Korea. Dosan was also the primary composer of “Aeguka”, South Korea’s national anthem. Sadly, this firebrand did not live to see his dream of a free Korea come to fruition, as he died in 1937, eight years before Korea threw off the yoke of Japanese oppression.

Korean people printed many textbooks on Korean grammar and spelling from 1910 to1919, and they did so covertly, for the Japanese made it a punishable crime. The Japanese used torture and prison sentences to intimidate the Korean people into submitting to their culture and language, not respecting the rights of Korean people to self govern or even maintain their own culture or language.

Korea was finally liberated from the Japanese Occupation in 1945, after the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, ending World War II and also putting an end to Japanese rule in much of Asia. The United States also came to Korea and China with soldiers to help supervise the mass exodus of Japanese soldiers.

Korea, a country which has a 5,000 year history, has been invaded, on average, about once every two years-a staggering statistic. The Korean people resisted the Mongol invasions for 32 years before succumbing, and were then set upon by hordes of Chinese and Japanese soldiers for many hundreds of years. This is reminiscent of the historical realities of Ireland and Italy, and like those people, Korea had to develop itself under the cloak of secrecy for much of its history. Like America’s 8-year Revolutionary War with England, Korea resisted stubbornly and passionately the foreign invaders who sought not only to conquer Korea, but to rob her of her very essence.

Korea has made tremendous progress since the dark days of the Japanese Occupation, both economically and socially, and is considered one of the four Asian tigers (economic powerhouses of Asia). Korea has truly taken off as a nation, and has earned its nickname, “The Miracle on the Han River.” Like everything worthwhile, it came with the heavy price of blood, sweat and tears.

A version of this article appeared in the March 2012 Gwangju News print edition.

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