Editing March First Movement (section)

==International reactions==
Many governments and media outlets learned of the movement within several weeks of its beginning.<ref name="YNA 2019 13">{{Cite web |last=국 |first=기헌 |date=2019-02-24 |script-title=ko:[외신속 3·1 운동] ⑬ 중남미 언론 "코레아, 해방 원한다"…日 대량학살 고발(끝) |url=https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190220081200087 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=ko |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430051434/https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190220081200087 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /> No major foreign governments challenged Japan's rule over Korea.<ref name="Japan Focus" /><ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /> This was largely due to each government determining that forwarding their policy goals with Japan outweighed offering support to Korea.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /><ref name="Hart-Landsberg, Martin 1998 P. 30" /> Journalists and some individual politicians voiced criticism towards Japan's suppression of the protests.<ref name="YNA 2019 13" />

=== United States ===
The U.S. did not take any significant action in favor of Korea as a result of the protests.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=131–132|p=}}{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=|p=208}} The scholar Brandon Palmer argued that even if the U.S. did publicly support Korean independence, circumstances still made it unlikely that Korea would be liberated as result of this. Furthermore, he noted that the [[American imperialism|U.S. had been engaging in its own colonialism]] and violently suppressing its own subjects, and that expressing support for Korean independence would have appeared hypocritical.{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=|p=208}}

In April 1919, the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]] told their ambassador to Japan that "the consulate [in Seoul] should be extremely careful not to encourage any belief that the United States will assist the Korean nationalists in carrying out their plans and that it should not do anything which may cause Japanese authorities to suspect [the] American Government sympathizes with the Korean nationalist movement".<ref>{{cite book |publisher=US Department of State |title=United States Policy Regarding Korea, Part I: 1834–1941 |pages=35–36}}</ref> Leo A. Bergholz, American consul-general in Seoul, reportedly expressed some sympathy towards the Korean protestors and advocated for colonial reforms, but otherwise adopted a passive stance.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=126–128|p=}} 
[[File:Selden Palmer Spencer.jpg|thumb|172x172px|American Senator and Korean independence activist Selden P. Spencer]]
A small number of individual American politicians expressed sympathy for Korea and the protests.{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=199–201}} Missouri Senator [[Selden P. Spencer]] wrote the foreword for Henry Chung's ''The Case of Korea''.{{Sfn|Chung|1921|p=7}}{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=199–201}} On July 15 and in August, in the context of opposing the ratification of the articles of the [[League of Nations]], [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] senators [[Miles Poindexter]] and [[George W. Norris]] submitted into the Congressional Record dissents that cited Korea as an example of a nation the organization had failed to aid.{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=206–207}}<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /> Norris also served as vice-president of the League of Friends of Korea.{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=205–206}} A tabled resolution in support of Korean independence was rejected by the [[United States Senate|Senate]] on March 18, 1920.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=135–136|p=}} In 1921, Congress condemned the violent suppression of the movement, but affirmed Japan's authority over Korea. The statement claimed that Korea was "as fixedly a part of [Japan] as California, Arizona, and New Mexico are a part of the United States".{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=212–213}}

Palmer argues that "the overwhelming response of the American public to the plight of Korea was apathy". The movement had occurred in the aftermath of World War I, and American attention was often focused on affairs in Europe. A number of non-politician Americans joined the League of Friends of Korea and expressed support for the Korean independence movement.{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=204–205}}

The movement did receive coverage in the American press, although often sporadically and not as the main story.{{Sfn|Palmer|2020|pp=204–205}} A South Korean journalist claims that ''The New York Times'' had published an article critical of the Korean independence movement just a month prior to the protest, but shifted to expressing sympathy soon afterwards. On June 15, the paper dedicated the entirety of one of its six pages to coverage of modern Korean history and the protests, with a full reprint of the text of the Korean Declaration of Independence.<ref name="YNA 2019 6">{{Cite web |last=이 |first=준서 |date=2019-02-17 |script-title=ko:[외신속 3·1 운동] ⑥ 美 타임스스퀘어에 울려퍼진 독립선언…세계가 눈뜨다 |url=https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190215013400072 |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=ko |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501215032/https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190215013400072 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== China ===
[[File:Chen Duxiu.jpg|thumb|195x195px|[[Chen Duxiu]] praised the March First Movement.<ref name="Shin 2009" />]]
The Chinese government did not openly advocate for Korea's independence, but Chinese politicians and press frequently voiced sympathy and praise for the movement.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /><ref name="YNA 2019 14"/>{{Sfn|Manela|2007|p=29}} The prominent newspaper ''[[Min Kuo Jih Pao|Republic Daily News]]'' covered the protests on a daily basis for some time.<ref name="Shin 2009" /><ref name="YNA 2019 14"/> One of its articles contained the line, "If the [protestor] in front falls, the one behind continues marching forward. [The Koreans] truly do not fear death".<ref name="YNA 2019 3" /> Chinese politician [[Chen Duxiu]], in his magazine ''The Weekly Review'' ({{Lang-zh|c=每週評論|labels=no}}), praised the protests and advocated for Chinese people to follow the Korean example. Other prominent figures in modern China, including [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Fu Ssu-nien]], also voiced their support.<ref name="Shin 2009" /> Student journalists of [[Peking University]] similarly wrote favorably of the protests.<ref name="Shin 2009" /> These sentiments were echoed by English-language newspapers in China, including the ''[[Peking Daily News]]'' and ''[[Peking and Tientsin Times]]''.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />

One Yonhap News Agency reporter argued that a letter from an anonymous Korean student to U.S. President Wilson was possibly significant in influencing Chinese public opinion on the protests. Although it is unknown if the U.S. ever received the letter, it was widely republished in Chinese papers and was followed by a shift towards more sympathetic reporting towards Korea.<ref>{{Cite web |last=차 |first=대운 |date=2019-02-15 |script-title=ko:[외신속 3·1운동] ④ 韓人 여학생이 띄운 편지, '대륙의 심금'을 울리다 |url=https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190208154700089 |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=ko |archive-date=May 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240501195847/https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190208154700089 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Russia ===
At the time of the movement, Russia was engaged in the [[Russian Civil War]] and [[Russian Revolution]]. The foreign ministry of the anti-Bolshevik [[Russian State (1918–1920)|Russian State]] consulted with Japan in March, then officially took a neutral stance on the protest.<ref name="YNA 2019 8" />

The Bolsheviks frequently expressed solidarity with the Koreans. Several South Korean and American scholars and journalists have since argued that the protesting Koreans were from across the political spectrum, and that Lenin and the Bolsheviks actively sought to link movements such as these with their cause, as they stood to benefit from doing so.<ref name="YNA 2019 8" /><ref name="EncyKorea Movement" /> After the Soviet Union assumed control over territories with significant Korean populations in the Russian Far East, it allowed and sometimes encouraged Koreans to openly express support for the Korean independence movement.<ref name="YNA 2019 8" /><ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />

Due to the civil war, overall awareness of the movement was likely low amongst the general Russian public, although it was still covered in major papers. Reporting on it was also possibly relatively delayed compared to in other countries; a 2019 study on global coverage of the protests claimed that a May 3 article in the leftist newspaper ''[[Pravda]]'' is the earliest known Russian article on the protests. The article criticized Japan's violent suppression of the protests, as well as the subsequent disinformation campaign.<ref name="YNA 2019 8" />

=== United Kingdom ===

The [[Mass media in the United Kingdom|British media]] displayed a general lack of interest in the protests, publishing articles on the protests only weeks after they first began and which were merely reprints of reports sent to Europe by ''Reuters'' correspondents in China and Japan.<ref name="YNA 2019 9">{{Cite web |last=박 |first=대한 |date=2019-02-20 |script-title=ko:[외신속 3·1 운동] ⑨ '영일동맹' 허울에 英언론 日 '받아쓰기' 그쳐 |url=https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190212161500085 |access-date=2024-05-01 |website=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=ko |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502000054/https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190212161500085 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Efn|These reports from ''Reuters'' also initially influenced coverage of the movement in the [[Mass media in France|French media]], with several French newspaper articles citing them as they described the protests as violent riots.<ref name="YNA 2019 10"/>}} These articles generally repeated the Japanese government line, describing the protests as violent riots incited by [[Bolshevism|Bolshevik]] Koreans based out of Shanghai, though ''[[The Guardian]]'' also reported eyewitness testimonies from Christian missionaries in Korea who claimed that Japanese forces committed atrocities against unarmed protestors. This mostly pro-Japanese coverage of the protests stood in contrast to reporting in China, the United States, Australia and Southeast Asia, which tended to be much more balanced; the [[Yonhap News Agency]] speculated that this was due to the [[Anglo-Japanese Alliance]] leading the British media to assume an unusually pro-Japanese stance.<ref name="YNA 2019 9" /> The [[Anglican Church of Korea]] reportedly attempted to maintain a middle ground position between what it viewed as Korean terrorism after the protests and the oppression of the Japanese colonial government. Anglican bishop [[Mark Trollope]] advocated for Japan's continued rule in Korea and praised the cultural rule reforms. The church's positions on these issues reportedly alienated potential Korean converts.<ref name=":8" /> 

In line with their media counterparts, the British government assumed a muted response to the protests, with no member of the [[Lloyd George ministry]] advocating for Korean independence.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=114–115}} However, parts of the British public became more sympathetic towards Korean independence after the Jeamni massacre on 15 April, with the pro-Korean organisation [[The Friends of Korea]] ({{Langx|fr|Les Amis de la Corée}}) being formed in Britain and France. Several senior British officials, including [[William Royds]], [[William Max Muller]] and [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|George Curzon]], expressed support for the Koreans.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=114–117}} Curzon and [[Beilby Alston]] pressured the Japanese government to end the violence, with Alston reportedly informing the Japanese authorities that they were "outhunning the [[Huns]]" and "outrivalling Germans in war". These officials advocated for Japan to grant Korea varying degrees of self-governance, which came to naught in the face of strong Japanese opposition.{{Sfn|Ku|2021|pp=115–116}} During the early 1920s, [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] MPs [[Arthur Hayday]] and [[Thomas Walter Grundy]] repeatedly mentioned Korean opposition to Japanese rule in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], requesting the British government to bring it up with their Japanese counterparts. However, none of these efforts resulted in significant changes in Japan's policy towards Korea.<ref name="EncyKorea Movement" />

==== British Empire ====

Papers in [[British Malaya]], while still generally in line with reporting in the U.K., shared information about Japan's violent response. One article of ''[[The Malaya Tribune]]'' argued that Japan would not be able to stop the unrest through violence.<ref name="YNA 2019 12">{{Cite web |last=황 |first=철환 |date=2019-02-23 |script-title=ko:[외신속 3·1 운동] ⑫ '식민굴레' 동남아 언론의 동병상련…"계층넘어 韓人 단결" |url=https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190213120400104 |access-date=2024-05-03 |website=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=ko}}</ref> A response to a reader question in the April 2 issue of ''[[The Straits Times]]'' attempted to justify why Korea's sovereignty was not approved for discussion at the Paris Peace Conference.<ref name="YNA 2019 12" /> For [[British India]], a 2019 South Korean examination did not find many newspapers articles about the movement. A Yonhap reporter theorized that this was possibly due to India being a British colony at the time. One article entitled "Korean Unrest" was published in ''[[The Hindu]]'' on March 27, and included synthesized information from ''Reuters'' reports. This and another report on April 16 described the movement as a violent armed rebellion. Later coverage of Korean issues in the paper is reportedly infrequent and brief.<ref name="YNA 2019 12" />

=== Other countries ===
The French government, which was then hosting the Paris Peace Conference that Koreans were still petitioning to be represented at, reportedly cautiously monitored the movement's progression. A Yonhap reporter argued that the government was concerned that the movement would inspire similar anti-colonial protests in its own territories.<ref name="YNA 2019 10"/> The movement received wide coverage in French newspapers. Left-leaning and anti-colonialist newspapers such as ''[[L'Humanité]]'' praised the movement. A number of French newspapers published an anecdote about female Korean students in [[Kaesong]] singing the French song [[La Marseillaise]], which is often associated with the [[French Revolution]], during the protests.<ref name="YNA 2019 10"/>

A Yonhap reporter argued that sentiment in Australia did not match that of the U.K., and claimed that articles often expressed skeptical criticism of Japan's handling of the movement.<ref name="YNA 2019 9" />

Mexican newspapers began publishing on the movement on March 13, and reportedly widely condemned Japan's actions.<ref name="YNA 2019 13" /> The [[Koreans in Mexico|Korean community in Mexico]] launched a fundraising campaign in response to the movement, and sent the raised funds to Korean independence activists in Shanghai. Despite the community living in significant poverty, one estimate claims the Koreans there donated an average of 20% of their income to the independence movement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=남 |first=문희 |date=2021-10-03 |script-title=ko:쿠바의 한인, 우리가 알지 못했던 독립운동가들 |url=https://www.sisain.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=45528 |access-date=2024-04-30 |website={{ill|SisaIN|ko|시사IN}} |language=ko |archive-date=April 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430051434/https://www.sisain.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=45528 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Germany reportedly had little coverage of the movement, possibly due to instability after its loss in World War I. The first known mention of the protest appeared in ''[[Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung]]'' on March 22, 1919, and consisted of two sentences: "The unrest in Korea has been suppressed. There is peace again". Subsequent coverage was reportedly often short, as much reporting was devoted to domestic issues.<ref name="YNA 2019 11">{{Cite web |last1=현 |first1=윤경 |last2=이 |first2=광빈 |date=2019-02-22 |script-title=ko:[외신속 3·1 운동] ⑪ 獨·伊언론 '짤막' 보도…'내코가 석자'·日 눈치 |url=https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190215008100082 |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=[[Yonhap News Agency]] |language=ko |archive-date=May 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240502013535/https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20190215008100082 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Italy reportedly had limited coverage of the movement, with the first known article being in the ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'' on August 23. The article described the colonial government's reform efforts, and did not explicitly mention the protests. Several South Korean scholars argued that, as a colonial power itself, Italy was incentivized to not incite anti-colonialist sentiment. In addition, Italy and Japan had signed a number of friendly treaties and agreements around this time.<ref name="YNA 2019 11" />