Independence Club
The activities of the Independence Club were specifically directed toward three primary goals: national independence, wider citizen participation in the political process, and national self-strengthening. First, it directed its energy toward safeguarding Korea's independence in the face of external pressures by urging that Korea adopt a foreign policy based on independence and neutrality, one that would show no favor to any foreign power seeking to advance its parochial interests in the peninsula. Second, the Independence Club initiated a popular rights movement in Korea to create wider participation in the political process. The ideological basis of this movement demanded the full equality of all people, the rights of free speech and assembly, the right of the individual to the security of his person and property, and the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people. In its demands for the right of the governed to participate in their governing, the Independence Club had in effect launched a grassroots political movement for political democracy in Korea. Third, the Independence Club sought to promote a movement of self-strengthening by establishing schools in each village to provide a new and more modern kind of education. In their drive to expand the commercial and industrial infrastructure in Korea, the Club promoted the construction of textile and paper mills and ironworks to further Korea's commercial capacity and industry. Finally, they urged the development of a more modern national defense capability, including a navy, to ensure the security of the country.