Ryu Gwan Sun
Ryu Guan Sun was a 17-year-old teenage girl, a Korean independence activist during the years of 1919, when Korea was being ruled by Japan.
She was a student at 이화학당, a school established by the American for the first institute of women. Ryu and four of her other classmates joined the march crying for the freedom of Korea’s independence on March 1st. Mid while the protest, the Declaration of Independence, stating that the Koreans will no longer live by the rules of Japan.
The activists cried out “대한민국 만세!” meaning “long live the Korean independence” against the Japanese colonial rule.
The very next day, the organizations of the protests came to visit Ryu’s school and encouraged her to join another student protest happening in 3 days. On March 5th, she and the fellow protesters protested in 남대문, a public space in central Seoul. They were soon arrested by the Japanese authorities, but luckily professors from her school had negotiated their release.
Sensing the rebellion, the Japanese authorization ordered all schools closed on March 10th. A few days later, Ryu returned to her hometown with a stolen copy of the Declaration of Independence, spreading the word and encouraging others to fight for their country. On April 1st, 3,000 people gathered at Aunae. Ryu was distributing the Korean flag to everyone, as well as giving speeches about Korean independence.
Before much action had started, the Japanese police had arrived and killed 19 people, along with the parents of Ryu. Ryu has now lost her parents due to the cause of her strong nationalism. The protest on April 1st was soon stopped, but the police didn’t stop the independence of the Koreans.
Few weeks later, an estimated amount of 20 million people had participated in 1,542 pro-independence marches. More than 7,000 people got killed, 46,000 prisoned, including Ryu. She got prisoned in 서대문 prison. At first, she was moved to an individual cell on the first floor,but whenever she got the chance to, she started to rebel against the Japanese police, and started to shout out for Korea’s independence and encouraged others to do so while being imprisoned. After the continued rebellion against Japanese authorities, the guards decided to move her to an underground cell.
The underground cell, where there was barely any sunlight to shine, was a cell 2 floors down the prison, with no toilet nor sanitary facilities like showers and sinks. In the underground cell Ryu Gwan Sun was tortured with all kinds of horrifying methods such as cutting her ears and nose with a shaving knife, or worse. This was continued until her death on September 28, two days before her scheduled release date.
Ryu Gwan Sun takes a crucial role in the history of Korea and is still remembered as one of the most significant patriots in Korea. Her actions inspired many more Koreans to stand up for their country. Her actions took a huge effect on Korean independence and forever remains in Korea’s history as one of the bravest teenage girls to have stood up for their country.
