The March 1, 1919 Movement was a popular uprising for Korean independence against Japanese occupation that influenced later independence and civil rights movements in the twentieth century.

Over 2 million Koreans participated in one of the world’s first people-led social movements. At the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was finally liberated from colonial rule. But the hopes of the Korean people for one free and independent nation were dashed; during the transition after the war, the peninsula was divided in a process that was intended to be temporary. 100 years later, the dream of an independent, united and free Korea is still unfulfilled.