March 1st Korean Independence Movement, 1919, unknown artist

As the Great Korean Empire ended through the annexation by the Japanese Empire in 1910, Korea’s future would soon be met by extreme oppression by the Japanese government and massacre of Korean people for Japanese entertainment. In 1919, the Korean students in Tokyo published a statement demanding freedom from colonization that eventually led to the March 1^st independence movement in Korea. The formal Declaration of Independence framed by thirty three representatives of the Korean people which proclaimed that, “We herewith proclaim the independence of Korea and the liberty of the Korean people. We tell it to the world in witness of the equality of all nations and we pass it on to our posterity as their inherent right…. It is something that cannot be stamped out, or stifled, or gagged, or suppressed by any means.” The Declaration of Independence asked for peaceful liberty from colonization and did not incite acts of vengeance against Japan’s harsh colonial rule. (Yi, Ki-baek. A New History of Korea) However, their thoughts were not heeded and the thirty three representatives were arrested by the Japanese police.

The painting above depicts the scene when the Korean students met at Pagoda Park, holding aloft the Korean flag and shouting, “Tong nip man se!” (Long live Korean independence!) . More than two million Koreans directly participated and these peaceful protests were quickly suppressed by a massacre by the Japanese. The expressions of people in this painting are grim yet strongly resolute in achieving independence. Some are crying out in joy as depicted through the two men on the right side of the painting while many Korean students are clustered on the left side shouting for freedom. There are also various age groups and the equal proportion of men and women which symbolizes the united wish for independence of Korea. One can also see that an old woman fell to the ground, unable to move on, but is helped by a young woman trying to lift her up which signifies collaboration among people to help each other in difficult situations. The viewer can also note the amount of Korean flags that are depicted in the picture that shows the patriotism among the people and the scale of the movement. The artist also used perspective like Emanuel Leutze did above, creating a sense of depth by portraying the people in the front bigger than the people in the back. The depth gives the viewer the great amount of people participating in the movement and the use of the color, white makes it seem that the line goes on to the far distance into the painting.

According to Lim Jong Guk’s “Sil Lok Il pa” there were a total of 1214 protests from March 1^st to April 30^th in 1919. There were 15961 injured, 715 houses destroyed, 47 churches and two schools were closed down. In reality, the numbers in all these categories far exceeded those officially reported. The news of the March Peaceful Independence movement spread throughout the world and influenced future peaceful independence movements around the world, such as Gandhi’s peaceful independence movement in India. (Yi, Ki-baek. A New History of Korea)