Documents Issued on the Emperor's Birthday
Containing Calls to Launch Protests Like the March 1st Movement
"Important Materials Showing the Patterns of Independence Movement Development"
A leaflet created to commemorate the founding of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea has been designated as a Registered National Cultural Heritage.
The Cultural Heritage Administration announced on the 12th that the "Congratulatory Message and Declaration on the Establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea," housed at the Soongsil University Korean Christian Museum, has been registered as a Registered National Cultural Heritage.
It is a letterpress-printed leaflet issued on October 31, 1919, when the March 1st Independence Movement stirred the entire nation. It was produced to commemorate the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, formed by the integration of the provisional government established in Shanghai, China, in April of that year, with the domestic 'Hansung Government' and the Maritime Province's 'Great Korean People's Assembly.' It was released to coincide with the birthday of Emperor Taisho on October 31.
The congratulatory message, signed by thirty "representatives of the Korean people," including Kim Gu and Park Eunsik, begins with the phrase, "Having escaped ten years of slavery, today we have become the people of an independent Great Korea once again." It emphasizes, "Our people are no longer slaves to foreign nations, nor slaves to a corrupt autocratic government, but free citizens of an independent democratic nation."
The declaration mainly calls for the resumption of nationwide protest movements like the March 1st Movement. It urges independence demonstrations by stating, "Once again, with peaceful cries of Manse, we declare before Japan and the nations of the world that we are an independent country of the Republic of Korea and free citizens of the Republic of Korea."
"Our people are the citizens of the Republic of Korea, and those who govern our people are the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea; our people shall never again be subjected to Japanese rule."
The Cultural Heritage Administration evaluated, "These are important materials that show the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea after the March 1st Movement and the state of the independence movement at that time," adding, "They are fully worthy of preservation as Registered National Cultural Heritage."
The existence of the two documents became known when Professor Kim Yang-seon (1907?1970) of Soongsil University, from Maesan (梅山), donated them to the university. They are the only surviving materials in the form of actual leaflets. Professor Kim was a Presbyterian pastor and archaeologist who graduated from Pyongyang Soongsil University. The Korean Christian Museum, which he personally established and operated, later became the foundation for the launch of Soongsil University's affiliated museum.
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