Today is March 1st aka 삼일절 aka Independence Movement Day!
The name literally translates to 삼 = 3, 일 = 1, 절 = festival day (see also: 광복절/Liberation Day on Aug. 15).
It’s a national holiday that marks the March 1, 1919 protests & demonstrations by Koreans against the Japanese occupation. You can read more about the 삼일 운동 & the history of Korean independence over on wikipedia~
Because this is such an important day in Korean history, it’s one of the holidays Korean language learners should be aware of! If you want to practice some reading skills (and learn some specific vocab), here’s what the 사회통합프로그램 한국사회 아해 (KIIP level 5) textbook says about it:
And a longer more general paragraph about the independence movement:
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You can watch this year’s 삼일절 기념식/March 1st Commemoration on youtube (fair warning: it’s long & full of formal Korean), which took place at the brand new National Memorial of the Korean Provisional Government.
Yonhap News also posted an English translation of President Moon Jae-in’s speech.
