The 14th Hanmal Honam Uibyung Memorial Ceremony to be Held on the 26th

The 14th Memorial Ceremony for the Late Joseon Honam Righteous Army will be held at Eodeungsan Mountain in Gwangju, the center of the Honam Righteous Army during the late Joseon period.

The Gwangbokhoe Gwangju Metropolitan City Branch announced on the 24th that the 14th Late Joseon Honam Righteous Army Memorial Ceremony and Eodeungsan Righteous Army Day Commemoration will take place at 9:30 a.m. on the 26th in the auditorium of Bomun High School located on Eodeungsan Mountain in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju.

The scene from the 13th Hanmal Honam Uibyung Memorial Ceremony held last year.
[Photo provided by Gwangbokhoe]

The memorial ceremony and commemoration will be attended by about 300 people, including Gwangju Mayor Kang Ki-jung, City Council Chairman Jeong Mu-chang, Gwangju Superintendent of Education Lee Jeong-seon, Director of Gwangju Regional Veterans Affairs Office Jeong Hong-sik, Gwangsan-gu District Chief Park Byeong-gyu, heads of various institutions, members of Gwangbokhoe, descendants of righteous army members and independence activists, citizens, and students.

The event, hosted by Bomun High School (Principal Choi In-gi) and organized by the Late Joseon Honam Righteous Army Memorial Project Association (Chairman Kim Gap-je) and the Gwangbokhoe Gwangju Metropolitan City Branch (Branch Chief Go Wook), is supported by Gwangsan-gu, and involves participation from the Citizens’ Group for True Liberation (Representative Lee Jae-yeon) and the Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Project Association Gwangju-Jeonnam Branch (Branch Chief Kim Jin-hwan).

The first part of the program includes a Salpuri dance performance led by Bae Seon-ju, director of the Arete Arts Troupe, to console the noble spirits of the Honam Righteous Army, followed by singing independence army songs under the guidance of tenor singer Park Hyun. Then, a special lecture titled “Honam Righteous Army during the Japanese Invasion Period” will be given by Lee Tae-ryong, director of the Independence Movement History Research Institute at the National University of Incheon.

The Late Joseon Honam Righteous Army led nationwide anti-Japanese righteous army wars from around 1907 to 1909.

In 1909, among the 1,738 battles fought nationwide against Japanese military police, 820 battles (47.3%) occurred in the Honam region, including Gwangju. Of the 38,593 righteous army fighters, 23,155 participated in Honam, accounting for 60.1% of the national righteous army.

While righteous army struggles were dying down in other regions, in Honam they intensified into a full-scale “righteous army war.”

The center of this was Eodeungsan Mountain, made possible by the participation of Gwangsan residents and their generous support of military provisions such as grain.

The Japanese government judged that they could not achieve the Japan-Korea Annexation while leaving the Honam Righteous Army, including the Eodeungsan Righteous Army, intact. From September to October 25, 1909, they launched the so-called “Southern Bandit Suppression Operation,” also known as the “Late Joseon Honam Righteous Army Annihilation Operation.” Over two months, they killed or executed 500 righteous army members and arrested over 3,000, forcing them to work on the construction of National Road No. 2 from Gangjin to Hadong, committing ruthless atrocities.

To commemorate this, Gwangsan-gu established October 25 as Late Joseon Eodeungsan Righteous Army Day in 2009, the first of its kind nationwide, and holds memorial ceremonies and commemorations annually.

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