March 1st Movement

The movement of the first of March refers to a popular uprising korea -born residents in the former Japanese colony Chosen, which took its course on March 1, 1919 and directed against the Japanese colonial policy.

Course

After Korea was annexed by the Japanese Empire in 1910 and incorporated as a province Chosen in this, developed a variety of reasons an independence movement. This organized in all major cities in the province.

1919 wrote the group a declaration of independence. This was signed by 33 representatives and nationalists as announced by this on March 1, the day of the funeral of King Gojong within the funeral procession for him in Keijo (present-day Seoul) at Pagoda Park. Place, date and contents were deliberately chosen so in order to preserve as much of a stir in the (then ongoing ) Paris peace conference. After the proclamation of the 33 representatives went himself in police custody. According to the North Korean Jangdae Hill applicable in Pyongyang as a starting point for the movement of the first of March.

The Declaration of Independence was simultaneously presented in the other cities where the group had organized.

After the reading of the Declaration came across the province to riots and protests, but they were all carried out peacefully. According to a statistical survey about ten percent of the population Chōsens participated in it ( absolutely about two million people). It is believed that approximately 57 percent of the protesters were farmers, whereby said that the movement was not a movement of the intellectual elite.

The provincial police and the colonial administration were completely surprised and initially not the situation. Although then relatively quickly suppressed the protests and then the situation could be pacified again later, so it until a year later succeeded the collection finally quell. Until then, according to Japanese sources, 553 people were killed, 12,000 arrested, killed eight policemen and military personnel and 158 wounded. According to a Korean estimate 7509 were killed, arrested 46 303 and 15 849 wounded.

Effects

A hearing of the case in the framework of the Paris Peace Conference was, unlike intended by the initiators of the protest, not instead of.

Nevertheless, the rebellion can be seen as partially successful because the colonial policy then changed to a milder and more lenient and has launched an encouragement for the interest and the development of Korean culture by the Governor-General Saitō Makoto. So the rules were lifted, which found the Korean -born population Chōsens as most unacceptable. Even the hitherto caring for ordering Japanese military police Kempeitai was replaced by a normal police as well as more freedom of the press allowed.

Another consequence of the suppression of a Provisional Government was formed on April 11, 1919 in Shanghai, the Republic of Korea under Rhee Syng -man.