Busan Veterans Affairs Office Hosts 5th 'Baeksan Children's Theater Festival'

A Story of the Independence Movement
Written and Performed by Youth

The Busan Regional Veterans Affairs Office (headed by Lee Namil) held the 5th 'Baeksan Children's Theater Festival' on the afternoon of October 18 in the outdoor yard in front of the Baeksan Memorial Hall, hosted by the theater troupe Haepung.

Busan Veterans Affairs Office is holding the 5th 'Baeksan Children's Theater Festival' and taking a commemorative photo. Provided by Busan Veterans Affairs Office

This event was a participatory performance in which young people wrote their own scripts and performed on stage, drawing attention for its reinterpretation of the meaning of the independence movement in modern and contemporary history from the perspective of youth.

Local youth organizations such as Kkumineun Theater Company, SangSangIN Seogu Teams 1 and 2, Gaettongi Children's Arts Troupe, and Ragazzi, a youth professional arts group, participated and presented a variety of performances.

The 'Baeksan Children's Theater Festival' was established to honor the spirit of resistance against Japanese colonial rule embodied by Baeksan Ahn Heeje. Ahn Heeje (1885-1943), who was born in Uiryeong, Gyeongnam Province, founded Baeksan Sanghoe in Busan, which served as a base for raising funds for the independence movement. In Manchuria, he established the Balhae Farm and Balhae School to provide education and workplaces, and he organized the Gyeonam Educational Association and the Daedong Youth Group, taking the lead in national education and the movement to restore national sovereignty.

A representative from the Busan Regional Veterans Affairs Office stated, "This year marks the 80th anniversary of Liberation, making it an especially meaningful year," and added, "We highly appreciate that young people took the initiative to express the meaning of the independence movement on stage. We hope that this theater festival will become a cultural event where future generations can naturally learn the spirit of patriotism."