Let's Learn about Korea on Tuesday-Lesson #11

This coming Sunday, Korea celebrates an important holiday.

March First Movement
The March First Movement, also known as the Samil Movement, refers to a day that Koreans first began to display their independence from Japanese colonial rule. At 2pm on March 1, 1919, 33 Korean nationalists gathered at Pagoda Park in Seoul to read the Declaration of Independence that they had drawn up. Crowds assembled in the park to hear it and then formed into a procession. The leaders of the movement signed the document and sent a copy to the Japanese Governor General. They then telephoned the central police station to inform them of their actions. The Japanese tried to break up the procession and the leaders of the movement were arrested. As these events were happening in Pagoda Park, special delegates associated with the movement also read copies of the proclamation throughout the country at 2pm on that same day. In the end 7,000 were killed and 45,000 were imprisoned.
The events on March 1, 1919 resulted in changes to many of the most objectionable parts of the Japanese rule. A month later in April 1919, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was established. Koreans have been celebrating March 1 as a national holiday since 1949.