Editing March First Movement (section)

==Background==
{{See also|Korea under Japanese rule|Korean independence movement}}
In 1910, [[Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910|Japan formally annexed Korea]]. Japanese rule was initially especially tight. Japan took control over Korea's economy, and began a process of [[Japanization]]: forced cultural assimilation. Land was confiscated from Koreans and given to Japanese people, and economic and administrative systems were created that were systemically discriminatory. Resistance was violently suppressed, and freedom of speech and press were tightly controlled.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |script-title=ko:신편 한국사 |publisher=[[National Institute of Korean History]] |volume=47 |language=ko |trans-title=[[Korean History (book series)|Korean History (New Edition)]] |chapter=3·1운동: 식민지 지배의 압박과 고통 |trans-chapter=March First Movement: Pressures and Pains of Colonial Rule |chapter-url=http://contents.history.go.kr/front/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_047_0040_0010_0040 |via=우리역사넷}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Baik |first=Youngseo |date=2021-11-01 |title=The 1919 Independence Movement in Korea and Interconnected East Asia: The Incremental Unfolding of a Revolution |url=https://apjjf.org/2021/21/baik |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |language=en-US |archive-date=May 25, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240525055410/https://apjjf.org/2021/21/baik |url-status=live }}</ref>

Japanese colonial policies mandated that Koreans send increasingly significant portions of their economic output to Japan, for what was seen as inadequate compensation. This caused a significant decline in the quality of life for many farmers and laborers, who began publicly protesting their treatment. In 1916, there were 6 strikes with 362 participants. In 1917, there were 8 strikes with 1,128, and by 1918 there were 50 strikes with 4,442. Historians of the [[National Institute of Korean History]] argue that this reflected increasing discontent in Korea around the time of the movement.<ref>{{Cite book |script-title=ko:신편 한국사 |publisher=[[National Institute of Korean History]] |volume=47 |language=ko |trans-title=[[Korean History (book series)|Korean History (New Edition)]] |chapter=3·1운동: 식민지 지배의 모순 격화와 민생 피폐 |trans-chapter=March First Movement: Increasing Inequity and Impoverishment During Colonial Rule |chapter-url=http://contents.history.go.kr/front/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_047_0040_0010_0040 |via=우리역사넷 |archive-date=May 14, 2024 |access-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514081743/http://contents.history.go.kr/front/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_047_0040_0010_0040 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Fourteen Points and philosophical developments ===
{{See also|Fourteen Points}}
Japan had been successfully rapidly industrializing since the late 19th century. Around this time, Western theories surrounding [[social Darwinism]] and [[Civilizing mission|colonial civilizing missions]] gained significant traction in Japan. These theories were often used to justify and promote [[Japanese colonialism]]. The devastation during the 1914–1918 [[World War I|First World War]] was a shock to many, and motivated intellectuals in Korea and around the world to discuss [[Liberalism|liberal]] reforms, especially [[anti-colonialism]], and ideals that would serve to discourage future such conflicts.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |script-title=ko:신편 한국사 |publisher=[[National Institute of Korean History]] |volume=47 |language=ko |trans-title=[[Korean History (book series)|Korean History (New Edition)]] |chapter=3·1운동: 해방과 평등의 새로운 사조 등장 |trans-chapter=March First Movement: The Emergence of Ideals of Self-determination and Equality |chapter-url=http://contents.history.go.kr/front/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_047_0040_0010_0020 |via=우리역사넷 |archive-date=May 14, 2024 |access-date=May 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514074819/http://contents.history.go.kr/front/nh/view.do?levelId=nh_047_0040_0010_0020 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Harris & Ewing bw photo portrait, 1919 - black and white (cropped).jpg|thumb|197x197px|U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (1919)]]
After the end of the war in 1918, United States President [[Woodrow Wilson]] announced his vision for establishing peace and the new world order. This vision was dubbed the Fourteen Points, and included the right of national [[self-determination]].<ref name="Neuhaus 2017">{{cite journal |last=Neuhaus |first=Dolf-Alexander |year=2017 |title="Awakening Asia": Korean Student Activists in Japan, The Asia Kunglun, and Asian Solidarity, 1910–1923 |journal=Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=608–638 |doi=10.1353/ach.2017.0021 |s2cid=148778883 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Koreans who learned of Wilson's vision were inspired, and interpreted it as signaling support for their independence movement. Their sympathy to the U.S. and the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] reportedly greatly increased.{{Sfn|Manela|2007|p=131}}<ref name=":6" />

The sincerity behind Wilson's advocacy for self-determination is debated. Some scholars argue his advocacy was limited to the former colonies of the defeated [[Central Powers]], which Japan was not a part of.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement">{{Citation |last=김 |first=진봉 |title=3·1운동 (三一運動) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]] |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0026772 |access-date=2024-04-29 |publisher=[[Academy of Korean Studies]] |language=ko |archive-date=April 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240416063921/https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0026772 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hart-Landsberg, Martin 1998 P. 30">{{Cite book |last=Hart-Landsberg |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBa7AAAAIAAJ |title=Korea: Division, Reunification, and U.S. Foreign Policy |date=December 1998 |publisher=Monthly Review Press |isbn=978-0-85345-928-6 |pages=30 |language=en |archive-date=May 7, 2024 |access-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240507020049/https://books.google.com/books?id=BBa7AAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Historian Ku Daeyeol argues Wilson's efforts were sincere, but frustrated by geopolitical realities.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=125–126}} The U.S. would not begin openly advocating for Korean independence until decades later, after it joined [[World War II]] against Japan.<ref>{{Citation |last=Son |first=Sae-il |title=孫世一의 비교 傳記 (64) |date=July 2, 2007 |work=[[Monthly Chosun]] |trans-title=Son Sae-il's Comparative Critical Biography (64) |url=http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?ctcd=&nNewsNumb=200707100074 |access-date=May 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320121144/http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?ctcd=&nNewsNumb=200707100074 |archive-date=March 20, 2023 |url-status=live |language=ko}}</ref> The Japanese colonial government suppressed discussion of the Fourteen Points; for example, around this time it reportedly banned a foreign film from being screened in Korea because the film had images of President Wilson.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=|p=109}}{{Sfn|Manela|2007|pp=129–130}}

=== Paris Peace Conference and the death of Gojong ===
[[File:Big four-1919-cropped.jpg|thumb|Western leaders at the Paris Peace Conference (May 27, 1919)]]
After the conclusion of the war, various nations participated in the 1919–1920 [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]], during which the sovereignty of a number of nations was discussed.<ref name=":3">Chang, Roberta (2003). ''The Koreans in Hawai'i: A Pictorial History, 1903–2003''. University of Hawaii Press, p. 100.</ref><ref name=":2" />

Koreans made a number of unsuccessful attempts to be represented at the conference. The Korean-American [[Korean National Association]] attempted to send [[Syngman Rhee]] and {{Ill|Henry Chung (Korean)|lt=Henry Chung|ko|정한경}} to the conference, but the U.S. government denied them permission to go.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|p=125}}{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=196–197}} A group of [[Koreans in China]], the {{Ill|New Korean Youth Party|ko|신한청년당}}, managed to send [[Kim Kyu-sik]] <span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">with the Chinese delegation.</span>{{Sfn|Ku|2021|p=124}}<span data-darkreader-inline-color="" data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">{{Sfn|Manela|2007|p=29}} Chinese leaders, hoping to embarrass Japan, attempted to put a discussion of Korea's sovereignty on the agenda, but did not succeed.{{Sfn|Manela|2007|p=29}}</span>

Koreans in China also created a plan to secretly extract former Korean emperor [[Gojong of Korea|Gojong]] from his house arrest in Korea, and eventually bring him to the conference.<ref name=":2" /> Before that could happen, on January 21, 1919, Gojong suddenly died. Japan reported that Gojong had died from natural causes, but he had reportedly been healthy just until his death. Koreans widely {{Ill|Death of Gojong of Korea|lt=suspected that Japan had poisoned him|ko|고종 독살설}};<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />{{Sfn|Manela|2007|p=132}}<ref name=":2" /> these theories were in part motivated by knowledge of previous attempts on Gojong's life.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-09-09 |title=Did you know that ...(22) The coffee plot |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2014/11/317_94553.html |access-date=2017-09-06 |work=[[The Korea Times]] |language=en}}</ref>

Public outrage at the possibility that Gojong had been murdered has since been evaluated as having a critical impact on the timing of, and even the altogether occurrence of, the March First Movement.{{Sfn|Manela|2007|p=132}}{{Sfn|Wells|1989|pp=|p=7}}<ref name=":2" />

=== February 8 Declaration of Independence ===
{{Main article|February 8 Declaration of Independence}}
[[File:February 8 Declaration of Independence (cropped).jpg|thumb|A copy of the first page of the February 8 Declaration of Independence]]
By the mid-1910s, several hundred Korean students were studying in Japan as part of Japan's cultural assimilation efforts.{{Sfn|Manela|2007|p=125}}{{Sfn|Wells|1989|pp=8–9}} While there, they were exposed to and developed a variety of ideas, which they discussed and debated. Of particular interest to them were ideas from the West, particularly [[liberal democracy]], which they received in part via the Japanese [[Taishō Democracy]] movement and Wilson's Fourteen Points.{{Sfn|Wells|1989|pp=8–9}}{{Sfn|Shin|2018|p=211}}<ref name=":6" />

By early 1919, their ideas coalesced, and they also became angered by the rebuffing of the Korean representatives to the Paris Peace Conference, by the brutality of Japanese rule, and by the possibility that Gojong had been poisoned. In February, 8,600 students of the [[Korean Young People's Independence Organization]]<span data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor=""> (</span>{{Korean|hangul=조선청년독립단|hanja=朝鮮靑年獨立團|labels=no}}<span data-darkreader-inline-bgcolor="">)</span> proclaimed and publicly distributed a declaration of independence, which they sent to the Japanese government, attendees of the Paris Peace Conference, and to representatives of various countries.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hae-yeon |first=Kim |date=2023-02-23 |title=[Newsmaker] Handwritten English translation of Feb. 8 Declaration of Independence found after 104 years |url=https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230223000635 |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=[[The Korea Herald]] |language=en |archive-date=March 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301045124/http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20230223000635 |url-status=live }}</ref> The students were arrested en masse by Japanese authorities, although news of their act reached Korea.<ref>{{Citation |last=박 |first=성수 |title=2·8독립선언서 (二八獨立宣言書) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Korean Culture]] |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0046355 |access-date=2024-04-29 |publisher=[[Academy of Korean Studies]] |language=ko |archive-date=April 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429185727/https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0046355 |url-status=live }}</ref>