By the end of World War 1 in 1918, Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points of Declaration was presented at the Paris Peace Conference and one of his points proclaimed that all nations should have the right to freely govern themselves, known as ‘self-determination’, which essentially became the catalyst for the March 1st Movement. Woodrow Wilson himself clearly specified in his speech that the “national aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent.”, and these words brought hope to all nations that were colonized and this allowed Koreans to believe that they would be able to make the most out of the changes in the international situation of the time, allowing to bring the plight of their country to the …show more content…
Wilson’s speech however, could be seen to be ineffective, as a secret pact among the United States, Japan and France prevented from discussing Korean issues. The U.S. embassy in Korea, instructed its representatives “not to do anything that may cause Japanese authorities to suspect American Government sympathizes with Korean nationalist movement”. This undeniably shows how the U.S. gave little help in giving ‘self-determination’ and the Koreans were able to only rely on themselves, which led to various religious groups working together, as they had the prestige to influence and enlist supporters, by distributing leaflets and spreading the word of the uprising through their churches, religious associations, and school, as all these provided personnel and communications network and eventually, made March 1st Movement possible. Religious groups were so dominant in Korea during this period of time, since all political organisations had been dissolved from the instigation of Japanese rule, therefore the religious groups were the only nationally established organisations other than the government. Due to this structure, and their involvement within the religious groups, the nationalists could use them as a viable means of communication on a national