Before Korean democracy lit up with candlelight protests and peaceful revolutions, it was forged in darkness—during one of the most traumatic chapters of its history.
In this episode, we go back to 1910, when Japan forcibly annexed Korea and erased a 500-year-old kingdom from the world map.
But Korea didn’t collapse—it was stolen. And from that loss came an unshakable spirit of resistance.
You’ll learn:
🧭 How Joseon’s fall felt like losing a parent—not just a government
🪧 Why Koreans saw reclaiming their nation as a sacred duty
⚔️ How Japan’s colonial rule reshaped everyday life—and sparked everyday defiance
🧠 What this century-long fight for dignity reveals about Korean civic strength today
This is Part 3 of The People’s Mandate: Korea’s Democratic Edge, a mini-series within Growing Up in Korea, exploring how Korea became one of the world’s most politically active democracies.
🎙️ Audio generated with Google NotebookLM
📚 Part 13 of the Growing Up in Korea series
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