National Debt Redemption
Movement

As a result, Korean citizens voluntarily decided to repay the foreign loan, initiating a movement in which the entire nation engaged in debt repayment. This was the National Debt Redemption Movement.

At the start of the 20th century, Japan enforced an enormous loan of 13 million won a sum equivalent to the annual national budget as part of Japan’s colonization policy against Korea. However, because the Korean government could not repay this foreign debt and predatory loan, it faced potential ruin. As a result, Korean citizens voluntarily decided to repay the foreign loan, initiating a movement in which the entire nation engaged in debt repayment. This was the National Debt Redemption Movement.

Although this movement started at a comitia (民會), centering on the intellectuals and businessmen of a rural city (Daegu), it developed into what became the first pan-national movement in Korea when it spread across the country, owing to a press campaign in which almost all newspapers and magazines participated. The entire nation participated actively in the National Debt Redemption Movement, as men stopped smoking and drinking, women sold jewelry such as rings and trinkets, the poor sold crafted straw shoes and lumber, students saved allowances, and children donated their errand money. Gisaengs and beggars, and even thieves participated in the fundraising. In this way, the Korean people tried to fulfill their duty by repaying the money their country owed by participating in the nationwide fundraising movement.

the National Debt Redemption Movement collection is a heritage that contains the entire process of this movement. It begins with the origination of the Movement on January 29, 1907, its spread on February 21, with the opening speech, its collapse, beginning in 1908, due to the so-called National Debt Redemption Fund Embezzlement Incident, and the closure and clean-up of the National Debt Redemption Fund in August 1910.