뉴스레터

Outbreak and Developments of the March First Movement

The year 1919 was a time of transition in world history. World War I that broke out in Europe in 1914 went on for five years until it ended in November 1918. To arrange post-war settlements and establish a system of peace, the Allied Powers hosted a peace conference in Paris in 1919. President Wilson of the United States suggested national self-determination as a principle to guide the establishment of a peaceful system. Meanwhile, the Russian Revolution occurred in 1917 during the height of World War I, overthrowing the Tsarist regime and giving rise to the communist Soviet Union. As a communist state, the Soviet Union supported and sought solidarity with smaller, weaker nations seeking liberty from oppression. Through this process, some colonies of defeated nations actually managed to achieve independence.

Koreans engaged in various activities domestically and abroad to take advantage of changing international circumstances for Korea's independence. Among such activities, those of the Sinhan cheongnyeondan, or the New Young Korean Men's Association formed in November 1918 in Shanghai, proved to serve as a major catalyst for carrying out independence movements in a new dimension. To demand Korea's independence, the Sinhan cheongnyeondan sent a Korean representative to attend the Paris Peace Conference. The association's members also recognized the need to carry out a massive demonstration to appeal to the international society that Koreans unanimously desired independence and were capable of functioning as an independent state. The association dispatched members to Korea as well as other countries in search of a way to launch a consolidated movement for independence. Accordingly, a group of Korean students studying in Tokyo, Japan announced in the name of "Joseon cheongnyeon dongnipdan" a declaration of Korea's independence on February 8, 1919. Hearing news that young Korean men made such a declaration abroad prompted catholic, protestant, and cheondosim leaders in Korea to collaborate on locally announcing another declaration of independence under the name of thirty-three Korean representatives. These independence declarations were followed by others made in west Jiandao, north Jiandao, Primorye, and the United States and culminated in a nationwide demonstration throughout Korea calling for independence. The series of declarations for Korea’s independence was therefore an act of solidarity between Koreans based inside and outside Korea.

The declaration of independence announced on March 1, 1919 in Korea begins with “We hereby declare that Korea is an independent state and that Koreans are a self-governing people.” Instead of petitioning or proposing for independence to Japan or the international society, this very first line was a statement Koreans made to declare that they belong to an independent, sovereign state. The statement was a proclamation affirming that all actions aimed at Korea’s independence carried out after the declaration shall be justified as the exercise of sovereignty by Koreans.

The reason the declaration was made under thirty-three names was to emphasize popular sovereignty, that the sovereignty of Korea belonged to its people. Once the declaration was made by their representatives, Koreans were free to exercise their due sovereignty by individually taking part in any independence movement of their own choice. The entire Korean nation participated in the March First Movement regardless of religion, ideology, class, gender, financial status, or age. Each Korean’s action confirmed the willingness to exercise their sovereignty as a nation. Leading figures of the March First Movement distributed to copies of the independence declaration and a manifesto urging the Korean public to participate. The Korean public responded by chanting the slogan "Long Live Korean Independence" (Daehan dongnip manse) as they joined demonstrations on the streets. At night, people would climb up to the nearest mountaintop and wave torches in protest while chanting the slogan. Although the March First Movement generally involved peaceful demonstrations, it also involved the destruction of facilities for colonial rule and armed attacks on the military police. The movement not only called for Korea’s independence, but made demands related to the Koreans’ right to survival such as to cut back farm rent, abolish discriminatory policies, and receive better education. After the independence declarations and demonstrations took place, various activities were carried out outside Korea to gain the international society’s support for Korea’s independence. Through the March First Movement, Koreans both inside and outside Korea were convinced that they had concentrated their efforts as a national community aiming for the singular goal of founding an independent state.

Japan responded with indiscriminate violence against the collective exercise of sovereignty by Koreans chanting Daehan dongnip manse at demonstrations and taking over facilities used by Japanese administrators. Many Koreans who took to the streets to protest for their independence were shot dead by the Japanese army. The residents of a village named Jeam-ri in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province even suffered mass slaughter. Anyone who either led or took part in demonstrations became arrested, tortured, and imprisoned. Japan’s use of military force to suppress the March First Movement made it difficult for Koreans to continue exercising their due sovereignty through the movement for more than two months.

The Korean Provisional Government’s Foundation

As exercising sovereignty in Korea grew impossible due to Japan's violent military oppression, the need continued to be raised since 1910 to establish an organization overseas, in other words a provisional government, to exercise sovereignty on behalf of Koreans. However, more serious attempts to establish a provisional government and building a new democratic state based on popular sovereignty only began to be made when the Declaration of Great Unity and Solidarity (Daesong dangyeol seoneon) was announced in July 1917. Released in Shanghai under the name of fourteen independence activists based overseas, the Declaration of Great Unity and Solidarity called out to all leading Korean independence activists overseas to hold a conference and establish a supervisory organization charged with overseeing all independence activities. This declaration stated that Koreans had never conceded their sovereignty to a foreign nation and declared null and void the treaty the Korean emperor Gojong signed on the concession of sovereignty to Japan. The declaration instead regarded the emperor's signing of the 1910 annexation treaty as his surrender of sovereignty to the people of Korea. However, because it was impossible for people in Korea to exercise sovereignty, the Declaration of Great Unity and Solidarity proposed the establishment of a provisional government to assist activists overseas in exercising sovereignty on behalf of their compatriots in Korea. Unfortunately, that proposal did not become realized immediately.

Only after Koreans inside and outside Korea witnessed their uniform desire for independence through the 1919 March First Movement did more genuine efforts emerge to establish a provisional government. Independence activists convened in Shanghai where many of them were already based in order to discuss ways to comprehensively oversee independence activities. An argument for launching a political party for independence movements clashed with an argument for establishing a provisional government, but the majority of votes later shifted toward establishing a provisional government. A two-day meeting the provisional assembly held on April 10 and 11 determined the country name "Republic of Korea," established a provisional government, and enacted and promulgated a provisional constitution. The constitution's first article stated that the Korean Republic shall follow republican principles, thereby rejecting monarchical sovereignty and instead proclaiming the adoption of popular sovereignty. The constitution also stipulated that all Korean citizens were entitled to equality and liberty, and that Korea wishes to become a member of the League of Nations in order to contribute to world peace and civilization. The Korean Provisional Government then appointed Kim Kyu-sik as foreign minister while he was attending the Paris Peace Conference so as to equip him with the authority necessary for representing the provisional government in international society. Other provisional governments were launched later in Korea and Primorye. Three different provisional governments were eventually merged into a single organization that was launched in September 1919. The Korean Provisional Government thereafter collaborated closely with independence activists based in various locations while carrying out diplomatic tasks for Korea's independence.

Historical Significance of the March First Movement and the Korean Provisional Government

The March First Movement was a historic event that condensed various independence activities Koreans carried out in modern times. After belonging to a Sino-centric world from the nineteenth century onward, Korea thereby became incorporated into a modern international order that revolved around Europe. It had to transform its traditionally feudal society into a modern civic society and became charged with the mission of fighting against imperialist invasions to establish an independent state. To achieve this mission, two currents of modern reform materialized in Korea, one from the top down and the other from the bottom up. Civilized intellectuals and aristocrats who were part of the ruling elite carried out activities related to enlightenment, the independence association Dongnip Hyeophoe, and the Gwangmu Reform. Intellectuals and farmers in rural areas participated in the Donghak Peasant Uprisings and righteous armed struggles. However, those two currents clashed with each other and kept Korea from reacting consistently against imperialist invasions. And this divided the capability of Koreans to carry out more organized movements for independence and allowed Korea to fall to the status of a colony.

What brought the two separate currents together was the March First Movement. Through the movement, Koreans demonstrated their uniform desire in Korea and abroad, which led to the Korean Provisional Government’s establishment. The movement united Koreans by reminding them that they were a community sharing the same historical fate and helped them turn into a modern people seeking to practice democracy. Koreans thus put behind their past of being ruled under an absolute monarchy and joined the worldwide trend of upholding democracy.

The reason the March First Movement managed to overcome the limitations of previous movements was because a broader spectrum of people participated including students and youths. Such participation directly proved that Koreans believed in equally and freely enjoying their rights as citizens regardless of class, financial or educational status, gender, or age. Korean independence activities thereafter came to revolve around commoners instead of elites, and students and youths increasingly played major roles in such activities. Meanwhile, independence activists invested further efforts into developing ideas and methods of resistance helpful in directing students, workers, and farmers to collaborate in an organized fashion for their shared purpose.

The March First Movement criticized militarism that encouraged imperialist wars of aggression and colonial rule. It instead supported self-determination and world peace built upon justice and humanitarianism. Multiple declarations of independence and the Republic of Korea's provisional constitution proclaimed that Koreans would pursue universal human values including liberty, equality, justice, and humanitarianism. The Korean intent to join the League of Nations was also motivated by the desire to contribute to world peace and civilization. In their petition to the international society, Koreans testified to their long history as an independent country and their capability to contribute to establishing world peace.

The diplomatic efforts the Korean Provisional Government made at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 did not lead to Korea's immediate independence, but they did manage to gain support from China, the Soviet Union, and socialist parties around the world. Such efforts also helped internationally publicize Korea's desire for independence and expose the brutality of Japan's illegal colonial rule of Korea.

Despite remaining under difficult circumstances, the Korean Provisional Government continued to organize independence movements beyond the 1920s. When World War II broke out in 1940, the Korean Provisional Government declared war against Germany and Japan and joined the Allied Forces to fight as it continued to actively engage in diplomatic activities. As a result, the Allied Powers agreed during the Cairo Conference in 1943 to support the steps necessary for Korea's liberation after the war. Based on this agreement, Koreans were able to hold a democratic election under the United Nations' supervision to form the Republic of Korea's official government. The constitution enacted at the time stipulated that the Republic of Korea would succeed the Korean Provisional Government established through the March First Movement. For this reason, the March First Movement and the Korean Provisional Government have been regarded as the starting point to the foundation of the Republic of Korea.