hankyoreh

South Korean President Moon Jae-in takes a commemorative photograph in front of the site of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Chongqing

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans’ Affairs (MPVA) is undertaking an effort to register Korea’s March 1 Independence Movement of 1919 on the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme for the movement’s centennial this year. It marks the first time the South Korean government has directly taken part in an effort to include the movement in the program.

On Jan. 14, the MPVA (under Minister Pi Woo-jin) announced that for the centennial of the March 1 Independence Movement and establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, it would be “holding discussions with the relevant ministries to pursue the UNESCO Memory of the World registration of the Korean people’s March 1 Independent Movement for the sake of increased awareness and preservation.”

A memorial foundation for the movement’s Memory of the World registration was previously formed in December 2017. While registration efforts to date have been carried out mainly by private groups, the MPVA will be joining civil society this year in submitting an initial registration request with the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA), after which the CHA is to proceed with an official request next year for the movement’s inclusion in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.

The MPVA also plans to carry out 26 major projects this year in the three areas of “remembrance and continuation,” “respect and gratitude,” and “engagement and integration.” First, it plans to restore and renovate facilities related to the independence movement as a way of “remembering and carrying on the noble goals of patriotic martyrs.” In addition to the UNESCO Memory of the World registration effort for the March 1 Independence Movement, the “remembrance and continuation” projects include commissioning a research study to establish Seoul’s Hyochang Park and a newly built “Independence Hill” as historic shrines. Further projects include the building of a national memorial to the ROK’s provisional government and the restoration of the Korean Independence Army’s general command headquarters in the Chinese city of Chongqing.

Other projects in the category include restoring the Ussuriysk home of Choi Jae-hyeong, one of the leading Korean independence activists in Russia; replacing exhibits and repairing a US memorial for Philip Jaisohn (Soh Jai-pil); improving exhibition facilities at the February 8 Independence Declaration memorial; focusing renewed attention on the activities of female and student independence activists and substantially increasing related awards; compiling an encyclopedia of figures involved in the independence movement; recognizing overseas independence activists; undertaking a full-scale study of prison sentence records from the Japanese occupation and developing potential uses for the research; and joining North Korea for an effort to unearth the remains of independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun.

Projects in the “respect and gratitude” category include increasing the number of independence activists of merit remains recovered from oversea burials from two to five per year; increasing the number of invitations extended to overseas-residing descendants of independence activists of merit (around 240) and to countries (including Kazakhstan, Mexico, and Cuba); increasing South Korean publicity efforts on the “independence activist of the month”; providing psychological therapy services to national persons of merit; obtaining DNA samples from descendants of independence persons of merit whose burial site has not been determined; identifying as yet unregistered national persons of merit, including Korean War veterans; remembering and expressing gratitude toward UN troops; and providing nameplates for households including a national person of merit.

Projects in the “engagement and integration” category include holding a centennial ceremony on Apr. 11 for the founding of the provisional ROK government; staging a centennial ceremony in Japan for the Feb. 8 Independence Declaration; recreating the First Korean Congress in Philadelphia; sending government delegates to 13 countries and providing support for around 40 overseas events to commemorate independence; organizing a nationwide independence torch relay from Mar. 1 to Apr. 11; and organizing a “future hope pilgrimage” to visit historic sites related to the provisional government.

By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter

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