March 1st

So this is a national Korean holiday.

... it goes waaaay back when the Korean peninsula

became a colony of the neighboring Japan.

This happened in the early 1900's and it lasted

almost the entire half century ...

until Japan officially lost in the WWII.

As far as I know and from what I've heard,

this period of forced Japanese occupation was the beginning

of the everlasting hatred between the two nations.

I guess this is when the Korean in me speaks louder.

Despite their own reasons ... honestly,

what the Japanese did to the Koreans was just inhumane!!

... or is that what humans do ... ??

*ivasion of land *assassination of all the royal lineage *forced labour

*extinction of the writen and spoken Korean language

*change of names (Korean names to Japanese names)

*detorsion of education *murder *rape

*humiliation and exploitation of all sorts

... and the list just goes on ...

Why am I making a big deal of this? Weeeeeell ...

my great-grandfather was in jail due to participating in the 삼일 운동

(Samil Undong = Three One Movement = Demo for Freedom)

He was a ferverous independence activist.

Apparently, due to his good behavior during his imprisonment,

they released him in a short period of time, 7 years later.

Doh In Gwon was his name.

... I guess because of people who strongly believe that

they can make a difference in this world

we are living and enjoying life as we are today.

Thanks to my great-grandaddy and those other nationalist

Korea is an amazing nation that is it today!

Oh, I found out that his first wife couldn't wait for him

while he was in prison, and went off to marry a different man.

After he left prison, he fell in love with my great-granny

... and they traveled around Russia, China, and Mongolia together

before settling down in Korea.

(My cousin Jinju is the great-grandaughter of the first wife)