•HRES 164 IH 
Whereas President Wilson stated in an address to a Joint 
Session of Congress on February 11, 1918, that ‘‘self-de-
termination is not a mere phrase. It is an imperative 
principle of action’’; 
Whereas the March First Movement constitutes a foundation 
upon which the Republic of Korea stands today as a glob-
al leader and one of America’s greatest foreign policy 
success stories; 
Whereas Yu Gwan-sun, a 16-year-old young woman, joined 
alongside her classmates at the March 1, 1919, independ-
ence demonstrations and later became the face of the Ko-
rean independence movement; 
Whereas Yu Gwan-sun was a student at Ewha Haktang in 
Seoul, which was established by American missionaries as 
the first modern educational institution for women in 
Korea; 
Whereas Yu Gwan-sun was imprisoned and tortured at 
Seodaemun Prison in Seoul, and on the first anniversary 
of the March First Movement, cried out, ‘‘Even if my fin-
gernails are torn out, my nose and ears are ripped apart, 
and my legs and arms are crushed, this physical pain 
does not compare to the pain of losing my nation.’’; 
Whereas, on March 28, 2018, the New York Times issued an 
obituary about Yu Gwan-sun in its series titled ‘‘Over-
looked No More’’; 
Whereas Korea’s March First Movement included contribu-
tions from several prominent Koreans that were educated 
and resided in the United States; 
Whereas these notable persons included Dr. Syngman Rhee, 
the first President of the Republic of Korea, who received 
his doctorate from Princeton University in 1910 from 
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•HRES 164 IH 
then President of the University, Woodrow Wilson, and 
addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress on July 28, 1954; 
Whereas Kim Kyu-Sik was among the earliest to receive a 
bachelor’s degree in the United States from Roanoke Col-
lege in 1903; 
Whereas Dosan Ahn Chang Ho was one of the early leaders 
of the Korean-American community, having immigrated 
to San Francisco in October 1902, and established the 
Friendship Society in 1903, the first Korean-American 
organization; 
Whereas Representative Diane Watson of California spon-
sored the bill that was enacted on June 25, 2004, as 
Public Law 108–239, designating the facility of the 
United States Postal Service located at 3751 West 6th 
Street in Los Angeles, California, as the ‘‘Dosan Ahn 
Chang Ho Post Office’’, the first such facility to be 
named in honor of an Asian-American; 
Whereas Philip Jaisohn was the first Korean to become a 
naturalized citizen of the United States in 1890 and was 
the first Korean to receive a United States medical de-
gree from Columbia Medical College, now the George 
Washington University School of Medicine and Health 
Sciences; 
Whereas, on April 14 through 16, 1919, following the March 
First Movement, Dr. Syngman Rhee, with Philip 
Jaisohn, organized the first conference of Korean-Amer-
ican organizations called the ‘‘First Korean Congress’’, 
which was held at the Little Theatre on Delancey Place 
in Philadelphia to symbolize Korea’s independence move-
ment, having drawn inspiration from the United States 
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•HRES 164 IH 
Declaration of Independence nearly a century and a half 
earlier; 
Whereas Korea’s March First Movement’s principles of self- 
determination, human rights, and nonviolence impacted 
similar movements throughout the world in 1919 such as 
‘‘Satyagraha’’, the nonviolent resistance developed by Ma-
hatma Gandhi and implemented by the Indian National 
Congress on April 5, 1919; and 
Whereas the goals and ideals of the March First Movement 
continue to reside in the hearts and minds of the Korean- 
American community: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) commemorates the centennial anniversary of 
Korea’s March First Movement Day; 
(2) recognizes the role of Yu Gwan-sun and the 
impact of all youth human rights activists; 
(3) recognizes the significant and indelible con-
tributions of Korean Americans to the vibrancy of 
United States society, politics, culture, and the econ-
omy; and 
(4) reaffirms the United States-Korea alliance 
as the lynchpin of United States engagement in 
Northeast Asia through the shared values of democ-
racy, free-market economy, human rights, and the 
rule of law. 
Æ 
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