[Full Text] President Moon Jae-in's Commemorative Speech on the 101st Anniversary of the Establishment of the Korean Provisional Government

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] Honorable citizens, descendants of the Provisional Government leaders, and members of the Liberation Association, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea is the root that made us who we are today. It is the legal tradition and spirit of the Republic of Korea.

Today, we have gathered to vividly commemorate the great path of independence that the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea walked. We have come together to eternally engrave the intense historical scenes and the passionate lives of the people into the Provisional Government Memorial Hall. In December 2017, as the President of the Republic of Korea, I visited the ‘Chungking Provisional Government Building’ for the first time and promised there, where the spirit and breath of independence activists reside, that “we will build the Provisional Government Memorial Hall.”

Since first proposing the construction of the memorial hall in 2015, the Provisional Government Memorial Project Association of the Republic of Korea and Chairman Kim Ja-dong, as well as the Memorial Hall Construction Promotion Committee and Chairman Lee Jong-chan, have devoted great efforts to its establishment.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On this day marking the 101st anniversary of the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, it is deeply moving to finally hold the groundbreaking ceremony. I sincerely thank you all for your hard work and, on behalf of the people, express deep respect to the descendants of the Provisional Government leaders and members of the Liberation Association who have carried on the history and spirit of the Provisional Government for a century.

Dear citizens, on April 11, 1919, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea established the ‘Democratic Republic of Korea,’ continuing the five-thousand-year history of our nation stolen by Japanese colonial rule, and declared that we are a free people of an independent democratic nation.

It rejected foreign domination and transformed the history of monarchic sovereignty into the history of popular sovereignty, opening a new era from absolute monarchy to democratic republic. At Seodaemun Prison, the ‘pure blood of men and women’ from the March 1st Independence Movement is soaked into the walls.

Ordinary people awakened by the March 1st Independence Movement became independence activists, and their spirits remain here. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, born from the March 1st Movement, carried out an unprecedented 27 years of independence struggle in world history, ultimately achieving liberation and freedom, leading to today’s democratic republic of Korea.

The Provisional Government walked a path of hardship and adversity but was never alone.

Not only compatriots in Korea, China, and the Maritime Province but also compatriots in Hawaii and California in the United States, sugarcane plantations in Mexico, and the Eneken plantations in Cuba sent donations filled with their blood and sweat to the Provisional Government.

In 1935, escaping Japanese surveillance and attacks, the Provisional Government fled Shanghai and passed through cities such as Hangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changsha, Guangzhou, Yuzhou, and Qijiang before arriving in Chungking in 1940.

It was because the nation held the desire for independence that this long journey of over 6,000 kilometers could be endured.

In 1941, the Provisional Government declared full-scale war against Japan, and in 1942, through a left-right coalition within the independence movement forces, established the Liberation Army, which carried out joint operations with British forces in Myanmar and India.

Thanks to the Provisional Government’s fierce independence struggle and persistent diplomatic efforts, in the 1943 ‘Cairo Declaration,’ we were the only colonial country guaranteed independence.

What makes the Provisional Government truly great is that amid the resistance to reclaim the lost country, it transformed the nation’s history and developed democratic capabilities.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Through patience, dedication, solidarity, and cooperation, it firmly laid the foundation of the democratic republic of Korea. The greatest elder of the Provisional Government, Seok-o Lee Dong-nyeong, left the motto,

“Water droplets falling from the mountain pierce the rock” (山溜穿石).

At the core of the noble patriotism that did not yield to adversity was faith and love in the courage shown by ordinary people and the greatness of humans standing boldly against injustice.

I once again pay deep respect to the ancestors of the Provisional Government who devoted their lives to the country’s independence over a long period.

Dear citizens, the most important reason we are building the Provisional Government Memorial Hall is to keep the spirit of the Provisional Government alive in today’s history, close to us.

The independence movement of the Provisional Government was not merely ‘anti-Japanese.’

Along with ‘national independence,’ it left a great legacy of spirit based on human dignity as the essence of ‘freedom and equality,’ ‘harmony and integration’ encompassing gender, wealth, region, class, and ideology, and ‘humanity’ contributing to the culture and peace of mankind.

Today, in the ‘Provisional Charter of the Republic of Korea’ shared by Chairman Kim Won-woong of the Liberation Association and the ‘Constitution of the Republic of Korea’ read by Jeong Go-eun, the great-granddaughter of activist Yoon Gi-seop, we can fully feel the spirit of that day.

The Provisional Government Memorial Hall will contain the stories of ordinary people who rose as owners of the country and the countless ancestors who built the Republic of Korea.

Teachers and students, religious figures, police and officials, doctors and nurses, nameless porters and peddlers, the blind, miners, tenant farmers, servants, and gisaeng (female entertainers) will all be engraved as proud protagonists of the independence movement history. Also, the roots of our military and police will be preserved together.

From the New Rising Military Academy to the Liberation Army, the Army was born; from the ‘Korean Pilot Training School’ established in California, USA, to the Liberation Army General Headquarters’ ‘Air Force Planning Committee,’ the Air Force was founded; the Navy was voluntarily formed by independence activists, their families, and civilian merchant officers. At the Provisional Government Memorial Hall, we will proudly recognize that the roots of the ‘people’s army’ also lie in the independence movement and the Provisional Government.

Baekbeom Kim Gu, the first Director of the Provisional Government’s Police Bureau, emphasized the police mission as the ‘spirit of national independence and the measure of patriotism and people’s safety,’ which remains the source of police spirit to this day.

We will take pride in knowing that the roots of the ‘democracy, human rights, and people’s livelihood’ police began with the Provisional Government.

We will eternally engrave in the National Provisional Government Memorial Hall, to be completed in 2021, that liberation was achieved by our own strength.

We will confirm that independence movements, not pro-Japanese collaboration, were the mainstream of our history. The government will never cease to honor and promote the history of the independence movement so that the legacy of the March 1st Independence Movement and the spirit of the Provisional Government live on today and that our future generations can become proud protagonists of new history.

On March 19th, at the Cabinet meeting, we approved the amendment to the ‘National Cemetery Act.’ This designates 12 joint cemeteries for independence patriots nationwide, including the Hyochang Park Independence Patriots Cemetery, and 45 joint cemeteries for national veterans, including those who died in the Korean War, as national management cemeteries.

Since last year, we have also been promoting the project to develop Hyochang Park into an ‘Independence Memorial Space.’ By 2024, it will be transformed into a space where citizens can honor the lives and spirits of independence activists in their daily lives.

We will further strengthen the veterans’ benefits. To enable national veterans and their families to receive convenient medical care nearby, the number of entrusted hospitals increased from 320 last year to 420 this year, and will expand to 640 by 2022.

Starting with the opening of the Gwangju Veterans Hospital Rehabilitation Center this year, expanding rehabilitation centers to four regional veterans hospitals by 2022 will establish a more convenient medical system linking treatment, rehabilitation, and nursing care.

The Gangwon region nursing home will be completed this November. We will make every effort to ensure the nursing home in the Jeonbuk region opens smoothly next year.

Honoring and caring for national veterans and their families who dedicated themselves to ‘independence, national defense, and democracy’ is a measure of the nation’s value and dignity. The government will fulfill its duty so that national veterans and their families can feel pride in their daily lives.

Honorable citizens, descendants of the Provisional Government leaders, and members of the Liberation Association, just as our ancestors a hundred years ago overcame hardships encouraging each other with hope that liberation would surely come, today we are overcoming the urgent and serious situation of ‘COVID-19’ through solidarity and cooperation.

Citizens have shown mature self-restraint and patience, sacrificing their daily lives, sharing and encouraging each other to overcome difficulties together. We feel that the strong spirit of independence activists who never broke before any hardship lives in the hearts of our people.

Facing ‘COVID-19’ together, we have come to understand more deeply the meaning of a ‘world of living together.’ Reflecting on how our actions affect those around us, we are participating in actions for ‘us.’ The social and economic crises we will face beyond ‘COVID-19’ may be even greater.

However, whatever crisis comes, we will overcome it again with the united strength of the people. Deeply engraving the spirit of the independence activists and the weight of the responsibility given to us, we will unite and cooperate among ourselves to overcome ‘COVID-19,’

and furthermore, we will unite and cooperate with the world. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea has always been a consistent source of courage whenever we faced hardship and adversity. The Provisional Government Memorial Hall will always be our greatest strength as we move toward better democracy, dream of peace and unification beyond division and hostility, and realize the values of humanity such as inclusion and coexistence.

Thank you.

April 11, 2020

President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.