A poster which compares BLACKPINK, a world-renowned Korean Wave star, to the Korean Righteous Army praised by foreign media more than 100 years ago, is spreading on SNS.
“They were showing their countrymen an example of patriotism” (September 24, 1907, Mackenzie, correspondent for the British newspaper Daily Mail)
“BLACKPINK is one of Korea’s most popular artists” (June 2022, American magazine Rolling Stone)
The poster, which has been going around on SNS since August 13th to mark the 77th anniversary of Korean Liberation Day by the cyber diplomatic network VANK, has the title, “The Righteous Army is also a Hallyu star in our history, although the times and circumstances are different.”
VANK believes that the Korean ancestors who fought with their lives to protect the country are also true Hallyu stars of the Korean history, and that they were able to develop and prosper thanks to them.
Park Ki-tae, head of VANK, said, “We will discover Hallyu stars hidden in Korean history throughout 5,000 years and promote Korea’s long history and culture to 150 million Hallyu fans and people around the world.”
Mackenzie wrote in detail about Joseon’s Righteous Army in his memoir, ‘Korea’s Fight For Freedom.’
On September 24th, 1905, two years after the Korean Empire’s diplomatic rights were forcibly taken away, the English version of the Korean Daily News published photos and interviews of Righteous soldiers fighting against the Japanese imperialist army.
When Mackenzie asked a Righteous Army soldier, “Do you think you can beat the Japanese Empire?” the soldier said, “We may have to die. Well, so be it. It is much better to die as a free man than to live as the slave of Japan.”
“The Joseon soldiers were already certain to die in a war that they had no hope of winning. But as I looked, the sparkling eyes and smiles of the sergeant to the right seemed to rebuke me. Pity! Maybe my pity was misplaced. At least they were showing their countrymen an example of patriotism.”
Source: sbs
