By Min Yea-Ji, Oh Hyun Woo and Kim Young Shin
Photos = Jeon Han
Seoul | Aug. 15, 2018

The official government ceremony to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of Liberation Day and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean government was held at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul on Aug. 15. It was held under the theme of “peace.”

In his speech at the ceremony, President Moon Jae-in said, “Even though political unification is still far away, building a single economic community first by settling peace and freely traveling back and forth between the two Koreas will become genuine liberation for us.”

Some 2,200 people, including government officials, foreign diplomats, patriots, independence fighters and their families, attended the national event, which was held at the museum for the first time.

Yongsan-gu District in Seoul, where the museum is located, is where the Japanese military base was located during colonial times. Since the liberation of Korea, the district has symbolized the Seoul-Washington alliance.



During the ceremony, the president talked about the peace and prosperity of the two Koreas, bringing to light unknown aspects of the history of the independence movement, and the economic value of peace.

President Moon in particular mentioned that “peace is the economy,” explaining his administration’s goal to establish special unification economic zones in the border areas of Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do provinces, and to reconnect inter-Korean railroads and roads, as agreed in the Panmunjeom Declaration. According to research by state-run organizations, the impact of inter-Korean economic cooperation over the next 30 years is estimated to be at least KRW 170 trillion.

The president also mentioned the East Asian Railroad Community, which brings six Northeast Asian nations and the U.S. together. He said, “The community will expand the horizons of the Korean economy to the northernmost parts of the continent and become the main artery for mutual prosperity across Northeast Asia. It will then lead to the creation of East Asian energy and economic communities. Moreover, it will initiate a Northeast Asian multilateral peace and security system.”

Finally, Cheong Wa Dae said that there were no special presidential pardons granted on Liberation Day, just like last year, as President Moon promised to limit the power of the president’s office to grant pardons when he was a presidential candidate.



jesimin@korea.kr