Idols celebrate 96th Anniversary of the March 1st Movement

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To show their love for their country and the enduring spirit of Korea, many Korean idols and celebrities celebrated the 96th Anniversary of the March 1st Movement.

March 1st marked not only the the day of a historic public movement for Korean independence, but also the drafting of the nation’s Declaration of Independence.

In 1910, the nation of Korea was annexed by the empire of Japan, who at that time was a major world power. Under Japanese rule, Koreans felt oppressed and Korean culture began deteriorating; with Japan’s plan to integrate Korea into its empire, Korean culture and traditions began to be slowly destroyed. When Kojong, the former Emperor of Korea, suddenly passed away in 1919, many believed he was poisoned by the Japanese.

With many believing that the Japanese played a part in the mysterious death of Kojong, activists and intellectuals started a movement all across the country. Caught off guard, the Japanese colonial government was unable to quell the March 1st movement, which broke out into one of the largest public movements in history.

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The original goal of the movement was to create awareness of Korean oppression so large that it would catch international attention; although the movement was unable to do so before the Japanese were finally able to control the activists, it did promote a lot of change in Korea.

After the March 1st movement, Japan replaced the Government General of Korea with general Saito Makoto, who started in era known as Cultural Rule in Korea. Under Makoto, Korean culture was more accepted, and the government allowed the proliferation of Korean language and culture.

Although the March 1st movement did not result in the immediate independence of Korea, it did unite a Korea that was slowly losing its culture and unity. The March 1st movement inspired a nation and kept its culture alive, allowing for the country’s eventual independence in 1945. Today, it is celebrated by Koreans as a day of unity and a day of remembrance.

Many idols and celebrities celebrated the historic day by posting and sharing the Taegukgi, the national flag of South Korea.

KBS:

g.o.d’s Joon Park:

9MUSES’s Minha:

Girls’ Generation’s Sunny:

역사를 잊은 민족에게 미래는 없다 A photo posted by Sunny (@svnnynight) on


Cora:

BEAST’s Yoseob:

Kim Soo Ro:

9MUSES’s Euaerin:

9MUSES’s Hyemi: 

9MUSES’s Hyuna:


4MINUTE’s HyunAh:

A photo posted by Hyun Ah (@hyunah_aa) on

Secret’s Song Jieun:

4MINUTE’s Sohyun:

Kang Minah:

 

잊지않겠습니다. A photo posted by 강민아 (@minah320_97) on

Sources:

Ch’oe, Yong-Ho, Peter H. Lee, and Wm. Theodore de Bary. Sources of Korean Tradition Volume II: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2000.

Kang, Hildi. Under the Black Umbrella: Voices of Colonial Korea, 1910-1945. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005.

Robinson, Michael E. Korea’s Twentieth-Century Odyssey: A Short History. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2007.

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