Republic of Korea Holidays - Independence Movement Day

The first day of spring is considered an important national event among South Koreans And they are not celebrating the arrival of spring at all Every year, local residents celebrate an independence movement celebration dedicated to the Samil movement This is one of the first national movements in Korea, created during the era of Japanese supremacy The movement began with the “14 points” and the right of weak peoples to self-determination, declared in the winter of 1918 by the American president After this message, students from Korea voiced their demand for the independence of the Republic When this information reached Korea, a secret society was created, which included 33 patriots Committee members drew up secret plans to overthrow Japanese rule On the afternoon of March 1, members of the Samil movement met at the Taehwagwan establishment, where they read the Declaration developed by historian Choi Nam Son At first it was planned to organize a gathering in a park in central Seoul, but then the decision changed from a position of personal safety The leaders of the movement signed the document and sent it to the governor of Japan After that, they contacted the police by phone and reported their actions They were arrested a few minutes later Despite the security measures used by the leadership of the movement, it grew rapidly - a large crowd gathered in the park, before which the declaration was read Afterwards, the crowd staged a procession along the sidewalks of Seoul, but Japanese police dispersed them, shooting over 1,000 people and injuring several thousand more About 47 thousand rebels were taken into custody At the same time, the clauses of the declaration were read out in other regions of the state, but in the provinces, Japanese police brutally suppressed the protests Although they did not go unnoticed Soldiers from Japan were called in to support law enforcement agencies By the end of March, the Japanese government reported that 553 people had died during the suppression of the uprisings, and 12 thousand were taken into custody Korean publications put the numbers an order of magnitude higher The protest was finally suppressed 12 months later About 2 million Korean residents took part in the uprising Over 1,500 demonstrations took place More than 7,000 people were killed The event did not receive worldwide publicity, as a result of which the Korean resistance realized that in a duel with the Japanese they would have to be guided only by their own forces One of the results of the March 1 uprising was a change in Japanese imperial policy Realizing the ineffectiveness of forceful control of Korea (and wanting to appear more attractive in the eyes of world society), the newly appointed Governor-General Makoto established a policy of “cultural management” First of all, censorship was relaxed and the publication of personal printed materials in Korean was allowed Today, Thapkol Park (formerly a pagoda park) is a favorite vacation spot for older people And every year on March 1, festive events dedicated to the Samil movement are held here This significant date is also celebrated in North Korea, although March 1 is not a day off like, for example, March 8 It is being propagated here that the March First protest was organized by representatives of the Kim Il Sung family - his grandfathers, parents and uncle However, local residents do not attach much importance to this event, since they are confident that the beginning of the Korean movement was the communist policy of Kim Il Sung