March First Movement

In 1910, Japan formally annexed Korea. Japanese rule was initially especially tight. Japan took control over Korea's economy, and began a process of Japanization: forced cultural assimilation. Land was confiscated from Koreans and given to Japanese people, and economic and administrative systems were created that were systemically discriminatory. Resistance was violently suppressed, and freedom of speech and press were tightly controlled. Japanese colonial policies mandated that Koreans send increasingly significant portions of their economic output to Japan, for what was seen as inadequate compensation. This caused a significant decline in the quality of life for many farmers and laborers, who began publicly protesting their treatment. In 1916, there were 6 strikes with 362 participants. In 1917, there were 8 strikes with 1,128, and by 1918 there were 50 strikes with 4,442. Historians of the National Institute of Korean History argue that this reflected increasing discontent in Korea around the time of the movement. Fourteen Points and philosophical developments Japan had been successfully rapidly industrializing since the late 19th century. Around this time, Western theories surrounding social Darwinism and colonial civilizing missions gained significant traction in Japan. These theories were often used to justify and promote Japanese colonialism. The devastation during the 1914–1918 First World War was a shock to many, and motivated intellectuals in Korea and around the world to discuss liberal reforms, especially anti-colonialism, and ideals that would serve to discourage future such conflicts. After the end of the war in 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson announced his vision for establishing peace and the new world order. This vision was dubbed the Fourteen Points, and included the right of national self-determination. Historian Ku Daeyeol argues Wilson's efforts were sincere, but frustrated by geopolitical realities. The U.S. would not begin openly advocating for Korean independence until decades later, after it joined World War II against Japan. The Japanese colonial government suppressed discussion of the Fourteen Points; for example, around this time it reportedly banned a foreign film from being screened in Korea because the film had images of President Wilson. Paris Peace Conference and the death of Gojong After the conclusion of the war, various nations participated in the 1919–1920 Paris Peace Conference, during which the sovereignty of a number of nations was discussed. Public outrage at the possibility that Gojong had been murdered has since been evaluated as having a critical impact on the timing of, and even the altogether occurrence of, the March First Movement. The students were arrested en masse by Japanese authorities, although news of their act reached Korea. == Organization ==

In late 1918, leaders of the native Korean religion Cheondoism, including , O Se-chang, and Son Byong-hi, reached a consensus that nonviolent resistance and turning international public opinion against Japan would be effective in advocating for Korea's independence. They also agreed that they needed assistance from other major groups in Korea. On February 28th, Canadian missionary Frank Schofield was asked to document the protests. ==Beginning==

Around noon on March 1, 1919, 29 of the 33 signers of the declaration gathered in T'aehwagwan to start the protest. (March 1919) By the time the marchers reached the gate Daehanmun of the former royal palace Deoksugung, their numbers had swelled to the tens of thousands. From there, a number of splinter groups marched in different directions throughout the city. News of the protests spread rapidly in Seoul, and marching and public demonstrations continued for many hours afterwards. The protestors were often met with violent repression by Japanese authorities, which resulted in deaths and arrests. == Spread ==

That same day, similar protests were held in other cities in Korea, including in Pyongyang, Chinnamp'o, Anju, and Wonsan. Despite Japanese repression of information, news of the protest in Seoul reached these cities quickly, as they were connected to Seoul via the Gyeongui and Gyeongwon railway lines. Protests often coincided with market days, and were often held at government offices. Character of the protests The protests were decentralized and diverse. Korean diaspora protests Manchuria On March 7, Koreans in Manchuria learned of the movement. They held a large protest in Longjing on March 13. Estimates of the number of protestors vary, although some put the number of protestors at around 20,000 to 30,000. One person, who had sent her son to the protest, later recalled what she had heard of it: Japanese authorities pressured the Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin into suppressing the protest. This resulted in around 17 to 19 deaths. In Moscow on August 12, a public rally in support of the March First Movement was held, and was reportedly attended by around 200 people, including at least one Soviet politician. The rally was left-leaning; its speakers, including an ethnic Korean Red Army officer (likely Yi Ouitjyong), interpreted the movement in a socialist framework and advocated for Koreans to ally with the Soviet Union and fight Japan. United States Koreans in Hawaii organized an impromptu meeting upon hearing of the protests that was attended by around 600. A followup meeting dubbed the First Korean Congress was symbolically held in Philadelphia, which they viewed as "the cradle of liberty" in the U.S. They sent statements to President Wilson, but were ignored. == Suppression ==

The Japanese Government-General of Chōsen was reportedly unaware that the protests would occur until they began, and was surprised by the scale and intensity of them. It rushed to recruit people from various backgrounds, A significant number of mass murders of Korean civilians occurred. On April 15, during the now infamous Jeamni massacre, Japanese authorities lured 20 to 30 Korean schoolgirls are attested to being stripped and publicly flogged. Yu was arrested and detained at Seodaemun Prison. She was reportedly unrepentant despite repeated beatings and torture. She eventually died of her injuries on September 28, 1920. == Statistics ==

Statistics on the March First Movement are uncertain, and are a subject of controversy. March First Movement Database In 2019, the National Institute of Korean History (NIKH) of South Korea published an online March First Movement Database () to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the movement. The compilation of the database began in 2016, and was reportedly the largest ever data gathering on the movement. It also represented the first time that the South Korean government promoted a single set of statistics on the movement. Japanese soldiers were harmed during the protests, with a number of deaths and over a hundred wounded. == Japanese disinformation campaign ==

Japan attempted to stop information about the event from leaving the peninsula. Major Japanese newspapers made some initial reports on the event; they almost uniformly downplayed its scale and did not cover it as the main story. The English-language newspapers The Japan Chronicle and The Japan Advertiser published a number of articles that were about the violent suppression of the movement, with the latter covering the events of the Jeamni massacre. Rebuttals from foreigners In March, thirty foreign missionaries in Korea met and planned how they could draw international attention to Japan's acts in Korea; they reportedly adopted the slogan "No Neutrality for Brutality". In August, Schofield traveled to Japan on behalf of the missionaries in Korea. He conducted a range of activities to publicize what he had seen. He met with Prime Minister Hara Takashi and other prominent Japanese politicians and asked them to take action to stop the violent suppression of the protests. He gave a public lecture to hundreds of foreign missionaries in Japan, in which he strongly criticized colonial policies. The missionaries published a number of articles and rebuttals in Korea, Japan, and abroad about the protest. For example, a report in the colonial government–backed English-language The Seoul Press claimed prison conditions were like those of a health resort; Schofield published a rebuttal that ridiculed the claim and described in detail the methods of torture employed by the Japanese. In retaliation for his acts, Japan pressured him into leaving Korea in 1920. American journalist Valentine S. McClatchy, publisher of The Sacramento Bee, was in Seoul and witnessed Gojong's funeral and much of the early protests. He described Japanese investigators following him and searching his house in an apparent effort to stop him from leaking information about the protests. McClatchy would eventually leave Korea on March 17, but made a point of traveling around the peninsula and documenting what he saw before his departure. Upon his return, he dedicated the front page of the Bee's April 6 issue to the protests, and criticized Japan for manipulating information on the event. . American missionary Homer Hulbert, who had previously served as a personal envoy of the Korean monarch Gojong, published articles and gave speeches on the Korean situation to large audiences in the U.S. On one occasion, he gave a speech to 1,200 people in Ohio. On March 1, 1921, he gave a speech to 1,300 people in New York City. A number of churches argued that Japan should alter its policies in Korea, although they did not openly advocate for Korea's independence. The Commission on Relations with the Orient of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ conducted a three-month investigation of the protests and published a 125-page report that concured with Korean reporting. The Presbyterian Church in Canada compiled and published a report with its evidence of the protests' suppression. One of its foreign mission board secretaries wrote, "Mails and cables are censored and the World is kept in ignorance whilst Japan is posing as a civilized nation". Rebuttals from the Korean diaspora Korean-American independence activists attempted to sway U.S. public opinion on the protests through writings and speeches. They established the League of Friends of Korea in April, which was dedicated to publicizing the independence movement. The organization would eventually have branches in 19 cities and upwards of 10,000 members. In 1921, Henry Chung published The Case of Korea, a book that criticized Japanese colonialism and advocated for Korean independence. Japan attempted to halt the book's publication. In spite of this, The New York Times published an abridged version of the book, and the entire book was submitted into the American Congressional Record. Chung gave dozens of talks on his book and, according to scholar Brandon Palmer, became a noted figure in American intellectual circles, with significant audiences at his talks. Some of their writings strategically focused on the disproportionate persecution of Korean Christians, which they knew would evoke sympathy from American audiences. They also placed Korea's situation in the context of increasing Japanese colonialism and aggression, particularly that in China. In Russia, Korean journalists published writings in newspapers such as the Hanin Sinbo about the protests that were quoted by Russian journalists. According to the analysis of one South Korean journalist, international publications became increasingly skeptical of Japan's narratives as time progressed. According to the analysis of Palmer, Korean public relations efforts continued into the early 1920s. They attempted to push for recognition at the 1921–1922 Washington Naval Conference, but were rebuffed. At the conference, Japan relinquished its holdings in Shandong and agreed to a number of demilitarization and openness policies. Palmer theorizes that these concessions quelled American criticisms of Japan. Palmer argued that the pro-Korea media campaign had some lasting success in influencing American opinion of Japan and Korea. However, the overall American public remained apathetic about Korea, and no significant policy changes occurred as a result of it. == Japanese reactions and policy changes ==

In Japan and abroad, the movement was widely seen as an embarrassment to the colonial government. Public intellectual Sakuzō Yoshino published articles in Japanese and at least one in English, in which he described Japan's colonialism as a noble venture, but condemned the assimilation of and discrimination towards Koreans as causing humanitarian concerns. Right-wing expansionist group Kokuryūkai, while not advocating for granting Koreans independence, reportedly promoted granting Korea some degree of "domestic self-governance". (1922) The colonial government enacted a number of concessions after the protests. Many of these efforts have been grouped under the name "" (); this was in contrast to the previous era, which has been dubbed "" (). These policies allowed several limited cultural freedoms and programs for Koreans. This included permission for several Korean newspapers to be founded, which resulted in the creation of the now newspapers of record The Dong-A Ilbo and The Chosun Ilbo, as well as the establishment of institutions like the Chōsen Art Exhibition and the Government-General of Chōsen Library. Access to print materials and the arts significantly expanded. In addition, while the colonial government had previously been more consistently dismissive towards Korean culture, it began conceding that Korea had some unique traditions worthy of protection and development. A number of commentators have evaluated these policy changes as being largely cosmetic and intended to appease Koreans and international observers. An August 22, 1919 article in American newspaper The Evening Star described one such concession as "merely one of those face-saving diplomatic schemes of Japan". Historian Michael Shin argues that colonial authority actually expanded during this period. Colonial expenditures doubled from 1919 to 1921, policies encouraged active management of Korean culture instead of passive punishment, and the police presence and intervention in Korea's economy increased. Koreans saw little improvement to their socioeconomic conditions and civil rights as a result of these policies. Throughout the period of cultural rule, Japan continued violently suppressing the Korean independence movement. By the late 1930s, many of these concessions were retracted, and assimilation was enforced with greater intensity. ==International reactions==

Many governments and media outlets learned of the movement within several weeks of its beginning. Leo A. Bergholz, American consul-general in Seoul, reportedly expressed some sympathy towards the Korean protestors and advocated for colonial reforms, but otherwise adopted a passive stance. A small number of individual American politicians expressed sympathy for Korea and the protests. Missouri Senator Selden P. Spencer wrote the foreword for Henry Chung's The Case of Korea. On July 15 and in August, in the context of opposing the ratification of the articles of the League of Nations, Republican senators Miles Poindexter and George W. Norris submitted into the Congressional Record dissents that cited Korea as an example of a nation the organization had failed to aid. China praised the March First Movement. Russia At the time of the movement, Russia was engaged in the Russian Civil War and Russian Revolution. The foreign ministry of the anti-Bolshevik Russian State consulted with Japan in March, then officially took a neutral stance on the protest. These articles generally repeated the Japanese government line, describing the protests as violent riots incited by Bolshevik Koreans based out of Shanghai, though The Guardian also reported eyewitness testimonies from Christian missionaries in Korea who claimed that Japanese forces committed atrocities against unarmed protestors. This mostly pro-Japanese coverage of the protests stood in contrast to reporting in China, the United States, Australia and Southeast Asia, which tended to be much more balanced; the Yonhap News Agency speculated that this was due to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance leading the British media to assume an unusually pro-Japanese stance. A response to a reader question in the April 2 issue of The Straits Times attempted to justify why Korea's sovereignty was not approved for discussion at the Paris Peace Conference. Germany reportedly had little coverage of the movement, possibly due to instability after its loss in World War I. The first known mention of the protest appeared in Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung on March 22, 1919, and consisted of two sentences: "The unrest in Korea has been suppressed. There is peace again". Subsequent coverage was reportedly often short, as much reporting was devoted to domestic issues. Italy reportedly had limited coverage of the movement, with the first known article being in the Corriere della Sera on August 23. The article described the colonial government's reform efforts, and did not explicitly mention the protests. Several South Korean scholars argued that, as a colonial power itself, Italy was incentivized to not incite anti-colonialist sentiment. In addition, Italy and Japan had signed a number of friendly treaties and agreements around this time. == Legacy and interpretations ==

(1926) The legacy of the March First Movement is still actively debated by scholars. In South Korea, the event's link to the establishment of the Korean Provisional Government is promoted, so as to bolster that government's legitimacy. North Korea In North Korea, the event is taught as a turning point where the family of eight-year-old Kim Il Sung's took the lead of the independence movement. The epicenter of the movement is taught as being Pyongyang instead of Seoul, and the contributions of figures who became influential in the later South Korean government are downplayed. The thirty-three national representatives are described as having surrendered immediately after reading their declaration. Indian independence activist Mahatma Gandhi read of the peaceful protests while in South Africa. He reportedly decided to return to India soon afterwards and launch the non-cooperation movement. In the U.S.-occupied Philippines, university students in Manila held a pro-independence protest in June 1919, and cited the March First Movement as inspiration. In British-occupied Egypt, students of Cairo University held a pro-independence protest amidst the 1919 Egyptian revolution, and cited the March First Movement as an inspiration. The movement as a revolution There is debate over where the movement can be considered a revolution. Historian Youngseo Baik argues that it can be, as the movement advocated for significant political change and has had lasting impact on Korean political thought. Apology In August 2015, Yukio Hatoyama, who had previously served as Prime Minister of Japan for nine months, visited Seodaemun Prison and apologized for how the prisoners had been treated. == Commemorations ==

History and description The March First Movement has been commemorated for each year since its occurrence, in both Korea and amongst the Korean diaspora. Historically, both left- and right-leaning Korean groups have celebrated the occasion. For example, in China in the 1920s, the rivaling right-leaning and left-leaning KNRP made a point of hosting a joint ceremony to bridge their political divide and demonstrate unity to observers. During the colonial period, independence activists scheduled speeches, rallies, and protests for the day. In Korea and amongst Koreans in Japan and in Manchuria, these events were often hosted in secret. The newspaper The Dong-A Ilbo openly commemorated the day in Korea on a number of occasions and was punished for doing so. Commemorations typically involve readings of the declaration, speeches, nationalist music, and the displaying of nationalist symbols, particularly the taegeukgi (flag). A number of songs have been written and performed for these meetings, with several attested to in Shanghai and Manchuria in the 1920s. Scholar Choe Seon-ung () wrote that for the left-leaning Korean National Revolutionary Party in the 1930s, efforts were made to reduce the number of nationalist symbols in ceremonies, so as to promote proletarian internationalism. Social events, especially dinners (or if funds were insufficient, refreshments), and events such as sports festivals, also accompanied many ceremonies. Koreans are also attested to boarding cars decorated with nationalist symbols and driving around whilst distributing leaflets about the independence movement. Commemorations have historically been funded by private donations, organization membership fees, and government grants. There are records of Koreans across the economic and social spectrum in Russia, China, the United States, and Cuba donating money for commemoration events. Choe argues that after the division of Korea, ceremonies reflected the increasing political polarization. In the southern United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK), right- and left-leaning groups held separate commemorations. Right-leaning groups continued to prominently display nationalist symbols. Ceremonies also came to involve Korean reunification sentiment. South Korea in 1954. In the USAMGIK, March 1 was made a holiday in February 1946. Various events were held in Seoul on that year's anniversary. Early on that day, a left-leaning group held a ceremony at the mountain Namsan. A major celebration was held at the Bosingak pavilion. Present at the event were Syngman Rhee, Kim Ku, and O Se-chang. Absent at the ceremony was Choe Nam-seon, the author of the declaration; in the years succeeding the movement, he had collaborated with the Japanese. On Jeju Island on March 1, 1947, a rally with 30,000 people in attendance was held in which (opposition of the Allied occupation of Korea) was linked to the spirit of the March First Movement. On October 1, 1949, South Korea designated March 1 as the national holiday Samiljeol (), and ceremonies were designated to be organized by the federal and local governments. Each year, a reenactment of the reading of the declaration is held in Tapgol Park. The KPG was the government-in-exile of Korea during the Japanese occupation, and a predecessor of the current government. North Korea refused to participate in the joint project of the anniversary due to "scheduling issues". The commission ceased its operation in June 2020. North Korea speaking at the first public celebration of the March First Movement in northern Korea in 1946. A taegeukgi flag is flying above Kim; both the north and south used the design from 1945 to 1948. In 1946, the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea made the occasion a national holiday. This later changed; the holiday was renamed to "The People's Anti-Japanese Uprising Memorial Day" () and demoted from the status of national holiday. Commemorations are reportedly mostly central, with few local celebrations. The events are geared towards inciting anti-American and anti-Japanese sentiment. and the United States. Korean Mexicans in Mérida have celebrated the anniversary of the movement with public events in recent years. Some celebrations have included reenactments of the reading of the declaration and public marches. Koreans in Cuba are also attested to holding celebrations. In the United States, New York state designated March 1 as Yu Gwan-sun Day on February 27, 2024. ==See also==