Shinto Shrine. (image: National Library of Korea)
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — More than a hundred years ago on August 22, 1910 at a location on Seoul’s Namsan, Yi Wan-yong signed the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, on behalf of the Korean Prime Minister, alongside Japan’s Terauchi Masatake at the home of the Resident (Japanese) General of Korea.
The treaty was formally proclaimed one week later, condemning the Korean Peninsula to Japanese colonial rule for the next 35 years.
Today, August 29, is known as “Gyeong-sul-guk-chi” in Korean, which translates to “the national humiliation in the year of Gyeongsul.”
An event to remember this tragic day in history will be carried out by Seoul citizens and the descendants of independence patriots today.
In remembrance of the day exactly 108 years ago, a walk down the “path of humiliation” starting from the Resident General of Korea’s home where the treaty was signed has been taking place each year from 2015.
The road, spanning 1.7 kilometers, continues down to the site of the former office of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, passing the memorial that the Japanese erected to celebrate their victory over China during the Sino-Japanese War as well as the Japanese Shinto shrine that was built nearby.
This year, 30 descendants of such freedom fighters as Kim Koo, Yun Bong-gil, and Jo So-ang will be walking down the “path of humiliation.”
Seo Hae-seong, the director of a project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the March 1st Movement said that the walk was not intended as a reminiscence of sadness, but aimed to rectify the inaccuracies of history.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)
