Yoon Bong-geun, Member of the National Communication Committee of the Balanced Development Committee, "Gwangju Student Independence Movement as a National Memorial Day"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Yoon Bong-geun, a National Communication Committee member of the Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development (former Chairman of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council), announced on the 3rd that he paid tribute to the ‘Gwangju Student Independence Movement Memorial Tower’ on the occasion of the 92nd Student Independence Movement Anniversary.

The ‘Gwangju Student Independence Movement’ was an independence movement that began in Gwangju in protest against discrimination by Japanese students during the Japanese colonial period, spreading nationwide with the participation of 194 schools and about 54,000 students.

Yoon Bong-geun, National Communication Committee member, said, “The Gwangju Student Independence Movement was the largest anti-Japanese movement after the March 1st Movement, and the courage of Gwangju students who did not yield to Japanese tyranny established today’s Gwangju spirit of democracy, human rights, and peace.”

He added, “I am proud that the birthplace of the anti-Japanese student movement is here in Gwangju, and the time I spent as a teacher in Gwangju, working with students, was the most rewarding and happiest time.”

Meanwhile, as the government consolidated various national commemorative days in 1973, the Gwangju Student Independence Day was temporarily abolished and reduced to an event unique to Gwangju, hosted by the Gwangju Superintendent of Education.

Yoon Bong-geun, while serving as chairman of the Gwangju Metropolitan City Education Committee in 2005, strongly urged the establishment of the Gwangju Student Independence Movement Day as a national flag commemorative day and for it to be held as a government-hosted event. Subsequently, it was established as a national flag commemorative day in 2006 and is currently held as a government-hosted event attended by the Prime Minister.

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