어린이날 has come and gone. Do you remember how I said 어학당 often treated us like children? Well on the national holiday for children, we got off from school. Go figure.

But I guess this is an ample time to explain the background for such holiday and why a nation would have it before the UN decided to make an international one.

Well back during the Japanese occupation period, Korea was very unhappy with their conditions under rather unruly generals. Unsurprisingly, many folks wondered what Korea would look like in the future and if things would ever be like the good ol’ days of 조선. Well, 방정환 had a strategic game plan—design a nationalistic rally under the guise of a holiday for the children. Did it work? I don’t think it caused Korea’s current independence but probably was a good tactic at stirring rebellious fervor in the right locations with nationalistic marching in Seoul. Let it be know that she probably had genuine intents but it got caught up with the current rebellious fervor of the time in order to become a legitimate event, especially considering the fact the Japanese were celebrating the similar holiday of Boy’s Day to replicate. 

The color and size of the different flying carp actually represent different members of the family (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

It couldn’t go a few years without being re-appropriated for other causes. 윤석중, at 14 years of age, presented a magazine story of the hard labor Korean children were doing. Giving new meaning to the newfound holiday, it became a megaphone for children’s rights. 

It continued going through a few political transformations before becoming nationalized officially in 1975. Not so much history is openly celebrated these days as just making sure kids have fun with plenty of events. I think it best to keep it that way so long as the adults know why the holiday was actually formed. Then, we can really offer kids a better future as 방정환 hoped for.

Because North Korea is always a concern in Korea and how Korean traditions work there is a bit of a wonder, below is an article (pretty-biased, of course) attached to the image on social mobility for children under the communist regime.

Children enjoy International Children’s Day, a North Korean public holiday, at Taesongsan Funfair in Pyongyang in this June 2, 2004 file photo (Korea Times File).