Thousands gathered near Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square on Thursday for a rally marking the 99th anniversary of the Independence Movement of 1919.
March 1 (UPI) — Thousands gathered near Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square on Thursday for a rally marking the 99th anniversary of the Independence Movement of 1919.
Activists at the rallies — which commemorated the movement that declared independence from Japanese colonizers — called for a strong alliance between South Korea and the United States, pre-emptive strike ability against North Korea and the release of impeached President Park Geun-hye, who’s being held on corruption allegations.
Across the country, other ceremonies were held Thursday to reminisce, including a memorial in Gwanghwamun to remember forced labor victims.
On Friday, the remains of 33 Korean forced laborers will be buried at Seoul City Yongmi-ri Second Cemetery Park. Next year, 35 more victims’ remains will return for burial.
A speech by South Korean President Moon Jae-in called on Japan to revise its « erroneous view of history, » referring to the dispute over the Takeshima islets and « comfort women » who were forced to provide sex to wartime Japanese soldiers.
To honor the wartime sexual slavery victims, a protest was held in front of the « comfort women » memorial statue outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
Independence Movement Day, also called Samiljeol in Korean, has been a national holiday since 1949. On March 1,1919, during a peace protest in Seoul, 7,509 people were killed,50,000 were arrested and 16,000 injured by the Japanese military.
