After watching the movie I realized how important it is to continue the legacy that was passed on from our Korean ancestors: our Korean language.
During the Japanese occupation of Korea,
"Schools and universities forbade speaking Korean and emphasized manual labor and loyalty to the Emperor. Public places adopted Japanese, too, and an edict to make films in Japanese soon followed. It also became a crime to teach history from non-approved texts and authorities burned over 200,000 Korean historical documents, essentially wiping out the historical memory of Korea." Some of our ancestors were forced to erase our identity, replacing our birth given Korean names into foreign Japanese names.
Though it was a long occupation, our Korean ancestors fought hard, protesting the revolting rule of Japan. In a couple of days we celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the March First Movement, where we proclaimed Korean independence and more than 1,500 demonstrations broke out in 1919. Around 2 million Koreans participated in demonstrations that lasted a year.
I've always known about the violence put upon our ancestors during the occupation, but never thought about how the language I speak now, was nearly wiped away. Our culture, almost wiped away. It made me reflect; the Korean language is a source of our pride, we need to preserve, protect, treasure and teach it.
I highly recommend anyone who is interested to check out the movie.
