„It was a great honour for me to be one of  twelve people to toll Bosingak, such an important historical relic for Korea in the heart of Seoul,“ said Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olša, jr. This ceremony marks the anniversary of March 1, 1919, when Korean patriots announced the independence of Korea, then under Japanese yoke.

Every year since 1953, when this ceremony was enacted, Mayor of Seoul, Chairman of Seoul City Council and Head of Jongno-gu office, where Bosingak is located, officiate this event with special invited guests - independence activists, distinguished personalities, celebrities, civil representatives and/or senior members of various fields. In three groups of four persons each of them toll the bell 11 times to remember 33 heroic Koreans who, back in 1919, signed the Declaration of Independence.

 

Ambassador Jaroslav Olša, jr. (in the back) waiting for his turn to toll the Bosingak

 

Of nine invited guests this year, one, 88-years-old Kim Yung-kwon, was an independence fighter while two others (An Hung-soon and Chung Yo-heon) are descendants of important figures of Korean fight for independence. Other figures included presbyterian pastor Han Kuk-Yom, an activist fighting for a case of comfort women, singer Seo Hee, a well-known supporter of Dokdo case, and popular Jo Hui, an actor who impersonated one of the symbolic figures of Korean fight for independence, An Jung-geun, in recent popular Korean musical „Hero“. The young generation was represented by 18-year old secondary school student Yoon Sin-woo. Ambassador of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Olša, jr. was honoured with the invitation for his donation of books and journals related to March 1 Movement to Seoul Museum of History last year. He is one of only a handful of foreigners who were given such an honour since enactment of bell-ringing ceremonies on March 1 in 1953.

all the invitiees cheering the crowd in front of the Bosingak

 

Bosingak (보신각  /  普信閣) is a large bell pavillion, a name of which could free be translated as „loudly ringing trust between the king and his people," and it also gave the name to one of the main and the busiest streets of Seoul – Jongno, which literally means "Bell Street". Build and installed in 1396, Bosingak used to be rung twice a day to announce the time and to signal the opening and closing of the Korean capital´s four gates during the Joseon empire until the early 20th century. Today, it is rung only three times a year: on March 1st in celebration of Korea’s Independence Movement, on August 15th to remind of Korea’s Independence, and on New Year’s Eve. The bell-ringing events usually draws crowds of people, the most popular being the one on New Year’s Eve, when the whole area around Bosingak is closed to traffic and becomes packed with people.

March 1, 1919 is one of the most important events in modern Korean history and its spirit continues to live on in modern Republic of Korea, when the streets are filled in with national flags and people enjoy a National holiday.

Link to Ambassador´s article on Czech relation to March 1 Movement and Korean independence fight in the late 1910s and early 1920s.

http://www.mzv.cz/public/67/9f/9d/473022_358724_march1_movement.pdf

 

Participants' List for March 1 Bosingak bell-ringing ceremony