It is clear that the Koreans are very much against the Japanese colonial rule for they were not treated equally. From a very long time ago, the Koreans were under China’s control. When the Qing dynasty fell down, they had finally got a chance to be self-governing. But soon the Japanese came and put down even more restrict codes on the Koreans (at least they had their own government). The Japanese were trying to make Korea part of their own land, just like what they were going to do with Manchuria. But Koreans had their culture, and their histories with the Japanese were not good (in Ming Dynasty, Japan invaded Korea but got defeated by the troops from both Ming Empire and Korea). In order to obtain their own nationality and culture, the Koreans had to stand up and fight. The 1919 Declaration of Independence was also trigger for such ideas. Though it used tender tones (Koreans were still pretty much afraid of Japanese’s future invasions), it had shown their determination to fight for their own freedom and rights. I think Shin had also mentioned the idea of “freedom of speech”. This is somehow similar to the ideas inside the American Declaration of Independence. As the very first movement to build up a free nation in Korea, the 1919 Declaration of Independence was definitely an important symbol. I have. Last year, someone from my high school made a tiktok of how Chinese wore masks in the campus. I was pissed off by such racism behavior. Thus I gathered most international students together and had successfully defended our own rights and reputations.
