The March 1st Movement of 1919

At a glance

• 📅The date was reasoned, not arbitrary

  The imperial funeral day was rejected as disrespectful to the late emperor, and the 2nd was a Sunday — so the 1st it was.

• ✍️33 national representatives

  The Cheondogyo, Christian and student plans merged, and the Buddhists Han Yong-un and Baek Yong-seong joined, making 33.

• 🖨️21,000 copies

  Choe Nam-seon's declaration was printed in secret at Boseongsa between 6 and 10 p.m. on 27 February.

• 🏛️The name 'Republic of Korea'

  Established in the constitution of the Provisional Government founded in Shanghai in 1919, and used ever since.

An event three weeks earlier set the rest in motion.

At 10 a.m. on 8 February 1919, Korean students in Japan posted a declaration of independence, asserting the necessity and justice of Korean independence, to the ambassadors and ministers of every country, to figures in the Japanese government, to members of both the House of Peers and the House of Representatives, to the Governor-General of Korea, and to newspapers, magazines and numerous scholars.

At 2 p.m. the same day, at the Korean YMCA hall, Baek Gwan-su read out a declaration signed by eleven representatives in the name of the Korean Youth Independence Corps, and Kim Do-yeon read the resolution. As the ceremony ended, police despatched from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police surrounded the hall, and in the clash ten of the representatives — all but Yi Gwang-su — were arrested.

The students then resolved to return home as a body, and on returning joined the movement of 1 March.

The encyclopedia explains the domestic movement as the product of three things coinciding.

Wilson's announcement of the principle of national self-determination, the February 8th Declaration by students in Japan, and the death of Emperor Gojong. With these together raising anti-Japanese national feeling, some national leaders judged that this was the best opportunity to pursue the independence of the Korean people and planned a nationwide movement.

At first religious bodies and educational institutions, which were relatively free to operate, each made their own plans; later they combined, in order to make the movement nationwide and unified. The Cheondogyo, Christian and student plans became one, and when the Buddhists Han Yong-un and Baek Yong-seong joined, the national representatives were settled at 33.

Knowing the governing structure of the colonial period explains why that particular combination. With the population comprehensively disarmed and military police handling civilians, the bodies that could still organise and assemble relatively freely were religious congregations and schools.

Three methods were agreed: publish a declaration of independence to arouse public opinion; send a demand for the return of national sovereignty to the Japanese government, both houses of its parliament and the Governor-General; and submit a petition for independence to the President of the United States and to the Paris Peace Conference, so that international opinion would press Japan into granting independence.

All three use documents and opinion rather than force.

The declaration was drafted by Choe Nam-seon and passed to Yi Jong-il, head of the Boseongsa printing house run by Cheondogyo. With the works supervisor Kim Hong-gyu, he printed 21,000 copies in secret between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on 27 February.

Four hours, twenty-one thousand copies. That figure conveys the scale this was prepared at better than any adjective.

The date was not arbitrary. It is what two objections left behind.

Cheondogyo held that choosing the day of Gojong's state funeral would be disrespectful to the late emperor, and the Christian side held that the 2nd should be avoided because it was a Sunday, the sabbath. The 1st of March was settled on as a result.

Because this was a movement several religions carried together, even the date was fixed in a way that respected each other's convictions. The name of the holiday still carries the outcome of that negotiation.

The longest-lasting result is a name. The state name Daehanminguk — the Republic of Korea — was established in the constitution of the Provisional Government founded in Shanghai in 1919, and has been in use ever since. The name on the passport was decided in this year.

In Seoul the two places tied directly to the movement are Tapgol Park, where the declaration was read, and Seodaemun Prison History Hall. Tapgol Park sits in the middle of Jongno and attaches naturally to a palace day. Seodaemun Prison deals with the imprisonment and punishment that followed, so taking them in that order gives a day its shape.

Places connected to the March 1st Movement

• 

  Seodaemun Prison History Hall

  Covers the imprisonment and punishment that followed the movement. A natural second stop after Tapgol Park.

• 

  National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

  Sets 1919 and the present in one continuous account. On the Gwanghwamun boulevard.

Frequently asked questions