100th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Korea Provisional Government

▲ members of the Shanghai Provisional Government / Source : Korean National Culture Encyclopedia

Last April 11 was a very meaningful day because it was the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Korea Provisional Government. So, what is the day of the establishment of the Provisional Government?

First, you should know about the 3.1 Movement. The 3.1 Movement was a major declaration of Korea's independence from Japan's suppression. It is a non-violent resistance that developed with nationwide participation regardless of gender or age. This diplomatic movement led to the provisional government of Shanghai. In other words, domestic and foreign independence activists gathered in Shanghai and held a temporary council meeting on April 10-11 and established a Provisional Government in Shanghai.

Then, the provisional government of Korea developed the worldwide independence movement, moving its headquarters to Shang-hai, Hang-zhou, Jeonj-iang, Guang-zhou, Liu-zhou, Zhej-iang and Chong-qing, until the independence day on 8.15, 1945 (8.15 Gwang-bok). After independence, key figures of the provisional government such as Kim-Gu returned to Korea. And the provisional government was dissolved. Despite the liberation, the confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union prevented Korea from immediately establishing itself as an independent state. The reason is that the Soviet Union army and the U.S. military were in the middle of the 38th parallel under the pretext of removing the Japanese army from Korea.

And although we later tried to prevent the divided government, the presidential election began in South Korea on May 10, 1948 and Rhee Syngman was elected the first president on August 15th. In North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established on September 1948. So the nation became divided.

In conclusion, The 3.1 Movement and establishment of the Korea's Provisional government are major turning points in the history of the Korean people, as the full text of the constitution states, "Our nation inherits the rule of law of the Korea Provisional Government built by the 3.1 Independence Movement."

Thus, Last April 11th was more a meaningful day as the date of the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of Korea Provisional Government in 2019. It was a day for us to have to know how much effort was made to re-establish Korea as an independent nation. Koreans are grateful to the independence fighters for their strenuous efforts to gain independence because we know that we live happily thanks to our painful history.

So we hope you remember as students studying in Korea and want you to know what it means to the Koreans. It is helpful to know Korea history so that you can get to know Korea better.