Post by Fritz on Feb 28, 2019 0:26:23 GMT
March 1st is a national holiday in South Korea and this year it is extra special in that it's the 100th anniversary of the original event that is celebrated each year - the so-called March 1st Movement (삼일 운동), one of the first public displays of Korean resistance during the rule of Korea by Imperial Japan.
For those not too familiar with Korean history, on March 1, 1919, 33 activists (mostly students) inspired by US President Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points," outlining the right of national "self-determination", read out loud the Korean Declaration of Independence. This act of defiance led to roughly 2 million Koreans participating in the more than 1,500 demonstrations throughout the country. The Japanese occupiers were understandably less than happy out it and brutally suppressed them. Thousands were killed or arrested.
Today, the March 1st Movement is widely considered the catalyst for the Korean Independence Movement.
