The National Debt Redemption Movement

Collection

There are 2,475 items in the National Debt Redemption Movement collection, which the National Debt Redemption Movement Memorial Association has applied to have registered in the UNESCO Memory of the World.: This collection is composed of four types of collections: handwritten records on the origination and development of the National Debt Redemption Movement, handwritten records on the expansion and spread of the National Debt Redemption Movement, records on the National Debt Redemption Movement by the Japanese government (Residency-General and the Japanese Governor-General of Korea), and the press records of newspapers and magazines that reported on the National Debt Redemption Movement state of affairs.

There are 12 handwritten records on the origination and development of the National Debt Redemption Movement. These include the opening speech and prospectus, which explain the aim and goal of the Movement, and were drafted to urge people to join the National Debt Redemption Movement. The opening speech and prospectus are recorded on Korean paper in Chinese characters or in a style incorporating both Hangul(Korean characters) and Chinese characters. The contents of these records are generally directed towards “resolving the national crisis by repaying a national debt of 13 million won via a donation movement, such as stopping smoking, in one’s duty as a citizen.”

There are 77 handwritten records on the expansion and spread of the National Debt Redemption Movement, which include inter-regional and intra-regional circular letters between the main agents of the Movement, regulations on the operation of National Debt Redemption Center, letters between individuals and groups, lists of donors by region, which show who participated and how much each donated, and the receipts for donations. These records reflect the detailed process in which the National Debt Redemption Movement expanded and spread across the nation.