A Paradigm Shift of The March 1st Movement

From Independence to Restoration, From Anti-Japanese Struggle to Peaceful Coexistence, and From Nationalism to Cosmopolitanism

The erroneously conceived conventional perspective on the March 1st Movement should be revisited, first from anti-Japanese struggle to peaceful coexistence through the spirit of mea culpa. Mea culpa, a self-reflection has been a long tradition of the Koreans during the critical crisis of the nation. The movement introduces the gravity of coexistence rather than antagonism against the enemy. Further, the March 1st Movement should no longer be considered as the independence movement. The movement was only to declare and to restore the immovable fact: Korea has always enjoyed its long-lasting history an independent state just like other states. Lastly, the March 1st Movement remarks the cosmopolitan point where the opportunities from the world brought the locals to directly face with their subjectivity. The March 1st Movement therefore is obliged to be reinterpreted as the movement of world citizens, for the restoration and perpetual peace, through the spirit of mea culpa.