Moon pays tribute to Korea's provisional government
President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook pay a silent tribute to the bust of indepdent fighter Kim Koo at the former Korean provisional government building in Chongqing, Saturday. / Yonhap
By Kim Rahn
CHONGQING ― South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited Korea’s former provisional government building during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of the country, in Chongqing, Saturday, the last day of his state visit to China.
It was the first time for a South Korean president to visit the place, which was used between January and November of 1945, while Moon’s predecessors have visited another former provisional government building in Shanghai that was used from 1919 to 1932.
He noted that the Constitution states South Korean receives the mantle of the provisional government.
“So 2019 will be the 100th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement, the establishment of the provisional government, and the foundation of the Republic of Korea,” the President said.
“For almost 100 years of the nation’s foundation, we haven’t properly honored the provisional government. So we plan to set up a memorial hall for it in Seoul.”
Moon also said South Korea and China had earlier agreed to restore the former site of the general headquarters of the independence army of Korea, which is also located in Chongqing, adding he and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping reconfirmed the agreement during their Thursday summit.
Later in the day, Moon talked with Chen Min’er, secretary of the Communist Party of Chongqing, and they agreed to resume the restoration project soon.
He also talked with descendants of former independent fighters living in Chongqing, and offered gratitude to their effort to preserve the building. One of them was Lee So-sim who urged both the Korean and Chinese governments to restore and preserve the building in the early 1990s when it faced demolition. Through such efforts, the place was finally restored in 1995.
Moon and first lady Kim Jung-sook also paid a silent tribute and offered flowers before the bust of the late independent fighter Kim Koo there.
Korea’s provisional government was first set up in Shanghai in April of 1919, and moved to several locations in China. It moved to Chongqing in September of 1940, and the building was used from January to November of 1945. Korea was liberated from Japan in August that year.
The Chongqing building is the largest among the remaining four provisional government buildings in China.