시대변화의 변곡점으로서의 3ㆍ1운동과 그 상징 유관순

March 1st Independence Movement as a Turning Point of New Era and Yu Kwan Sun as the symbol

Yu, Kwan Sun is one of the most famous historic figures in Korea. But was her life and death merely a stone thrown in the lake of Japanese Imperial rule? For she was 18 years old when she died in jail, and the independence of Korea she had longed for came 26years later. The crack of the 20th century characterized by greed, monopoly and violence of the Western and Eastern imperialism outbreak by the World WarⅠin Europe, and the March 1st independence movement of Korean in Asia. As a tremendous explosion Korea s March 1st independence movement was the same as the 1st World War in the western world, but there is some deference between that. For WWI was a ringing bell of ending the old era and old values, even imperialism. But in Korean s independence movement was ringing a sign of the dawning of a new era and a new order and the values of the world that will and should come to pass soon. The March 1st movement was a movement of independence opposition to invasion, non-violent to militarism, the liberty and freedom to coercion and terror, and the horizontal, mutual and voluntary co-operational movement opposition to the vertical, monistic and unilateral order of colonial rule. It was a start sign of great surge of the countries of the world to independent. 74%, 145 countries of the world s 195 countries has been made independent since 1919. Liberty and freedom has became the universal. Horizontal, mutual and voluntary co-operational effort is more and more important in modern society. In this sense, The March 1st independence movement of Korea is not only a landmark in Korean independence movement, but also a turning point of new era of the world. So the 17 year old unnamed high school girl Yoo Kwan Sun who sought liberty, independence of the country, and organized co-operated effort with neighboring villagers, and finally died in the jail was not only a heroin of Korea s independence movement but also a cultural i-corn of the new era, new world of independence, freedom, and co-operated modern society social or political movement. “An educated modern generation” symbolized by Yoo Kwan Sun who were growing up by the 1910s new education and experiencing subjective beings and positive power through participating in the March 1st Movement emerged as a social and political force, to change the situation of Korea under the Japanese colonial rule. They refused to become subtype of Japanese people, but to “Korean people.”