THIS MONTH IN KOREAN HISTORY - Mar. 2025
“The March 1st Independence Movement” by Suh Se-ok, painted in 1986
By Sharon Stern with additional reporting by Crystal Arnette
The March First Movement (also referred to as the Samil Movement – 삼일 – 3-1) involved a number of protests against Japanese colonial rule and for Korean independence and were held both in Korea as well as by the diaspora abroad, beginning on March 1, 1919.
Koreans hold mass protests against Japanese colonial rule in front of the traditional gate Gwanghwamun in Seoul, photo from The Independence Hall of Korea Government
It was inspired, in part, by the Paris Peace Conference in January of 1919, where US President Woodrow Wilson outlined the Fourteen Points to create a lasting post-WWI peace in Europe, one of which called for the self-determination of colonized countries. Korea wanted to claim their own right to self-determination.
The protests began in Seoul, but quickly spread throughout the country. Before the Japanese colonial government suppressed the protests, about a year after they began, an estimated two million Koreans had participated in more than 1,500-1,800 demonstrations. More than 7,000 Koreans were killed by Japanese police and soldiers, 16,000 were wounded, 47,000 were arrested and around 800 buildings were destroyed. Of the 47,000 arrested, around 10,000 were tried and convicted. The protests were peaceful, but often met with overwhelmingly violent suppression by the Japanese colonial government.
16 year old freedom fighter Yu Gwan-sun’s Prisoner Identification Card, she died in prison and became a symbol of the Movement
The movement was started by 33 cultural and religious leaders, who had distributed 1,500 copies of their Declaration of Independence throughout Seoul and to other leaders throughout the country. On March 1st, the commemoration day of the late emperor, they gathered at a restaurant, not wanting to cause a riot, signed the Declaration and turned themselves in to police, where they were arrested. However, the 1,500 distributed copies of the Declaration got people gathering at Tapgol Park in Seoul, as well as throughout the country, and by the afternoon, very large crowds had gathered. The Japanese had already occupied Korea for about 14 years at this point and had ruled the country for over nine. The protesters wanted to bring international attention and therefore pressure on the Japanese colonial government to end their colonial rule. The reading of the Declaration galvanized Koreans, whose suppressed anger exploded into a series of demonstrations.
It is also significant how women took a lead role in the protests – Fredrick Arthur McKenzie, a Canadian correspondent for the Daily Mail wrote, “The most extraordinary feature of the uprising of the Korean people is the part taken in it by the girls and women...Female students were most active in Seoul. For instance, most of the people arrested in the morning of the 5th of March were girl students.” Yun-hui Eo, who served a two-year prison sentence is quoted as saying, “When it’s dawn, do roosters cry under the command of someone? We rise up because it’s time to become independent.”
Within the year of protests, specific atrocities were witnessed and documented by foreigners. The Jaeamni Massacre was an incident of the murder of 20-30 unarmed Koreans at a church in Jaeamni on April 15, 1919. After this incident, the Japanese colonial government began a campaign of global disinformation regarding the protests, likening them to the Bolshevik uprising in Russia.
The movement did not, in and of itself, bring about independence. It did, however, encourage the organization and creation of the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai and garnered world attention. The global attention did pressure the Japanese colonial government to grant some limited cultural freedoms to Koreans.
The March First Movement has been noted as an influencing event for Mahatma Ghandi, who was visiting South Africa at the time and was moved by the fact that the protests were peaceful. The US-occupied Philippines held pro-independence protests in June of 1919, inspired by the March First Movement. British-occupied Egypt held protests during the Egyptian revolution of 1919, inspired by the March First Movement.
From a Red Cross pamphlet published in 1919
March 1 is a national holiday in both North and South Korea, though the celebration in the North had been toned down, emphasizing the role of the Kim family in the protests. In the South, the holiday is called Samiljeol (삼일절) and is celebrated by reenacting the reading of the Declaration of Independence in Tagpol Park.
As Korea continues to struggle with its political present and future, the March First Movement continues to resonate today, pushing Koreans to uphold their post-colonial legacy of self-determination, adhering to principles of justice and reconciliation.
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