Marking independence fighters - either leaders or grassroots

A bronze statue of martyr Kang Woo-kyu stands in front of Seoul Station, Friday. Kang threw a grenade at Japanese Governor-General Makoto Saito in 1919 and was executed the following year. Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoon

• Published Feb 20, 2019 2:17 PM KST
• Updated Feb 21, 2019 12:07 PM KST

This is the second in a three-part series on historic sites in Seoul related to the March 1 Independence Movement in 1919 and other activities for Korea's independence from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule. ― ED.

By Lee Suh-yoon

With the 100th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement just a week away, The Korea Times compiled a list of sites that are easily accessible on Seoul Metro Line 4, running north-south through the city.

All the sites are in the old part of Seoul north of the Han River. Out of these,

Hyochang Park

is located furthest south, 10 minutes by foot west of Sookmyung Women's University Station exit 9.

Once a royal graveyard called Hyochangwon, the site was turned into a park by the Japanese governor-general between 1924 and 1940. The park now houses the graves of three martyrs ― Yun Bong-gil, Yi Bong-chang and Baek Jeong-gi ― who died in confinement after enacting a series of attacks on Japanese forces and leaders. A fourth grassy mound next to the three martyrs signifies an honorary grave for Ahn Jung-geun, a well-known independence fighter who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first resident governor of occupied Korea. Ahn's body could not be retrieved after independence.

On either side of the martyrs are the graves of three key figures of the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai (Lee Dong-nyeong, Cho Seong-hwan and Cha Ri-seok) and the grave of Kim Koo, one of the leaders of the provisional government. Next to the grave is a museum where visitors can walk through Kim's life.

The next stop is Seoul Station. Get out at exit 2 where you will be greeted by a grenade-wielding statue of Kang Woo-kyu, an independence fighter who was executed after his attempt to assassinate Japanese Governor-General Makoto Saito.

Follow the wall leading away from the square, past the police station, until you see a small memorial stone just before reaching the post office. The stone roughly marks the site where thousands of students and civilians led the second “manse” (“long live” an independent Korea) rally on the morning of March 5, 1919, four days after the March 1 movement and the Proclamation of Independence.

The

plaza in front of Seoul Station

, then called Namdaemun Station, was teeming with people heading back to the provinces after attending the state funeral of King Gojong, the last monarch of the Joseon Kingdom whose death in January ― amid rumors he was poisoned by the Japanese ― fueled the March 1 Movement.

Thousands of students who had been hiding from the eyes of Japanese authorities in small alleys and storage rooms around the station flooded the square at once, waving banners that read “Long live an independent Korea.” It was the first mass rally that took place after March 1. The rally was entirely organized by students as the 33 religious leaders who signed the proclamation of independence were all locked up.

Using swords and guns, Japanese police broke up the rally after protesters reached the Bosingak pavilion in Jongno. Seventy-five were arrested, according to records. News of the rally at Seoul Station, the capital's main node to the provinces, traveled fast along the tracks. According to one study by Myongji University, “manse rallies” erupted in some 60 counties located along the tracks, and spread to 160 other counties further away.

The students' manse demonstration at Seoul Station sparked the first workers-led strike just three days later. Two hundred workers walked out of a printing press factory run by the Japanese government of Korea in Yongsan, shouting manse and waving the Taegukgi, the national flag of Korea. This rally in turn sparked a series of other workers' rallies. Just one day after the strike at the printing press, 120 streetcar motormen stopped operations in Seoul and 500 child laborers at a cigarette facility in Jongno streamed out of the factory to shout “manse.”

There is no sign marking this first manse rally by workers on site, located a 15-minute walk from

Sinyongsan Station

and

Samgakji Station

on Line 4, and now home to Korea Telecom's Wonhyo office.

Travel further up the line to Hoehyeon Station, previously known as Namdaemun Market Station. A short walk to the

Bank of Korea's Money Museum

out of exit 7 brings you to another nondescript memorial stone. According to the inscription, it's the site where thousands of independence activists clashed with Japanese military police while marching toward the Japanese governor-general's building after the reading of the proclamation of independence at Tapgol Park on March 1, 1919. Hundreds were injured.

The next stop is

Jangchungdan Park

, which can be reached from Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station exit 5. You could also skip the 15-minute walk by switching to Line 3 and getting off at Dongguk University Station.

Connected to Namsan Park and the Dongguk University campus, Jangchungdan Park was originally the site of Jangchungdan, a shrine Emperor Gojong built to honor Empress Myeongseong who was killed by Japanese soldiers at Gyeongbok Palace, and army generals who died trying to keep out foreign intruders.

Colonial Japan took down the shrine in 1910 and made the site into a park filled with cherry blossom trees and statues of Japanese soldiers. The park now hosts commemorative statues of well-known independence fighters such as Yu Gwan-sun and Lee Jun.

The Line 4 journey ends at Hansung University Station. A 10-minute bus ride further north from exit 6 takes you to

Simujang

, a small hanok residence where the famed monk and poet Han Yong-un (1879-1944) spent his final years. Most hanok houses face the south to let in as much natural light as possible. But Han, one of the 33 religious leaders who drew up the proclamation of independence, built the house to face north ― turning its back on the Japanese governor-general's building.

The literal translation of Simujang means “cow-searching house” ― cow being a metaphor for one's “lost self” in Buddhist training. The government recently designated Simujang, now open to the public, as an official historical site.