Revisiting the March First Movement: On the Commemorative Landscape and the Nexus Between History and Memory

In South Korea, the March First Movement of 1919 is the most revered manifestation of anti-colonial resistance. The national holiday of Samiljeol, the voluminous literature dedicated to the movement, the appearance of the event in presidential speeches, and the many monuments built for its memory all testify to this observation.
It is argued in this paper that historical analysis does not suffice to explain this phenomenon. Instead, the research presented here is based on the premise that to understand both how and why the movement has been commemorated throughout the years is to realize that the natural image of this event is essentially a constructed image. This does not mean that history was fabricated, but it means that the issue is related to the politics of memory.
Correspondingly, this paper analyzes how the movement has been anchored in the country's collective memory by focusing on the memorial sites for the two most notable icons of the event—Tapgol Park and Yu Gwan-sun. The central argument is that what appears to be today such a natural and fitting image?an image supported by sound historical data?has served for decades as a comfortable means to control and limit colonial memory at times when this memory was actually problematic.