Editing March First Movement (section)

=== 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>