Asan City Reenacts 'Yeonginsan Bonghwa Manse Movement' After 105 Years

Honoring the Aspiration for Independence by Carrying the Torch and Walking 2km Uphill in Bonghwa

The 'Yeonginsan Bonfire Manse Movement,' which blazed with the desire for national independence in 1919, was reenacted after 105 years.

On the 18th, the city held the '1st Yeonginsan Bonfire Manse Movement Commemoration Ceremony' at Yeonginsan Yeonhwabong (Tower of the Nation's Trials and Glory).

This event was organized to commemorate the 'Bonfire Manse Movement' that took place on April 2, 1919, at the summit of Yeonginsan, where torches were raised, and it was held around 8 p.m., the actual time when the bonfire movement occurred.

The ceremony was attended by about 200 people, including Park Kyung-gwi, Mayor of Asan, Kim Hee-young, Chairperson of the Asan City Council, Assemblyman Hong Soon-cheol, key heads of institutions and organizations in Yeongin-myeon, and local residents.

To prevent forest fires, the event used model torches instead of real ones, but participants walked about 2 km from the Yeonginsan Natural Recreation Forest parking lot to the venue, reflecting on the spirit of the patriotic ancestors who carried bonfires up Yeonginsan 105 years ago.

Mayor Park Kyung-gwi said, “Yeonginsan Yeonhwabong is the highest point in Asan where the bonfire filled with the desire for independence was raised, a place imbued with the spirit of the nation,” adding, “Let us nurture today’s first-ever Bonfire Manse Movement Commemoration Ceremony into a meaningful event that newly remembers and honors the history of the Manse Movement, which spread like wildfire after the March 1st Movement.”

Meanwhile, Yeongin-myeon plans to support the development of the 'Yeonginsan Bonfire Manse Movement Commemoration Ceremony' into a representative independence movement commemorative event of Asan City in the future.