Fellow citizens of Korea and 7 million overseas Koreans, and independence patriots and bereaved families.
On this day 107 years ago, the resounding shouts of Long live Korean independence! rang out to the world.
On that day, everyone was one. There were no differences of class or status, no differences of age or gender. Yeongnam and Honam were one, and there was no left or right. In Pyongyang, in Seoul, in Busan, in Sinuiju, truly from Halla to Baekdu, the whole country was filled with cries of manse.
The forebears resisted Japan's oppression with capacity-based struggles at home and with armed and diplomatic struggles abroad, and carried that spirit forward to the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
Because they united as one for a greater cause over small differences, the March 1 Revolution was at last able to bear fruit in the joy of liberation.
On the 107th March 1 Independence Movement Day, we offer boundless respect and unstinting praise to the patriotic forebears who gave their lives for the nation's independence. We also extend our deep gratitude to the four living independence merit recipients and to the bereaved families.
Without the forebears who threw everything into the independence of the homeland and the hope of tomorrow for their descendants, the free and prosperous Republic of Korea we enjoy today could never have existed.
Therefore, honoring and treating our forebears with courtesy is a special reward for special sacrifice and the minimum measure for maintaining our community.
As I said on Liberation Day, we will expand the identification and commendation of unrecognized independence patriots, and we will pay special attention to providing stronger support to the descendants of independence patriots.
We will designate the Hyochang Park area as the National Hyochang Independence Park and prepare broad plans to utilize the Shanghai Provisional Government building to honor the independence spirit of our forebears for generations.
Also, on the 150th anniversary of Baekbeom Kim Gu's birth this year, we will carry on that noble will through a commemorative project with participation from the entire nation.
The self-deprecating saying that "three generations are ruined if you engage in the independence movement" will disappear, and those who dedicated themselves to the nation will be respected, while acts of betraying the community will be sternly judged—such common sense will prevail in a fair country, and we will make it so.
Fellow citizens, a century ago when the March 1 Revolution broke out, the world was an age of upheaval in which the strong exploited the weak.
Many countries, including ours, suffered the pain of having their sovereignty taken and of colonial rule.
Only after suffering the horrors of world wars did the international community create new norms to mediate disputes between states and manage peace.
However, a century later, the world is once again entering a period of upheaval. The international norms established over more than 80 years since World War II are under serious threat from the logic of force.
To avoid repeating the same mistakes, we must find lessons in our past.
The spirit of our forebears' March 1 Revolution offers great lessons today to us and to people around the world.
The March 1 Revolution was a declaration of independence and a declaration of peace, a compass pointing to a future of peace and coexistence.
Through the March 1 Declaration of Independence, our forebears lamented that we had lost the opportunity to contribute to world culture with new technology and creativity.
They also expressed a grand aspiration that, upon achieving independence, we would shine the dawning light of a new civilization on human history with our humanitarian spirit honed over thousands of years.
They dreamed of a democratic republic in which the people are the true owners; not of plundering other countries by force, but of a peaceful Daedong world where we empathize, stand in solidarity, and live together as one.
This is why all of us must deeply reflect on the spirit of the March 1 Revolution in this era of crisis in which democracy and peace are again under threat.
In 1919, we were powerless colonial subjects, but in 2026, the citizens of Korea are becoming people who move the hearts of the world and possess infinite potential to change it.
Our Republic of Korea is the only country liberated from colonial rule that has achieved industrialization and democratization at the same time.
Our great people of Korea achieved industrialization through the Miracle on the Han River after liberation.
Even under the oppression of dictatorship, we realized democracy through the April 19 Revolution, the May 18 Democratization Movement, and the June 10 Democratic Uprising, and we amazed the world by lighting the lamp of popular sovereignty through the Candlelight Revolution and the Revolution of Light.
With an economy ranked around 10th in the world that is "enough to make life prosperous," and with the world's fifth-strongest military power that is "enough to deter others' aggression," our Republic of Korea, with the "power of high culture" ranking seventh in global influence, is expanding the breadth of understanding and empathy, spreading peace, and making the forebears' dreams a reality.
What made this possible was the spirit of the March 1 Revolution that has flowed unbroken in the blood of our people.
The spirit of the March 1 Revolution, advocated by our forebears and continued by our people, is surely the bright light that will lead people around the world living through this era of crisis, in which democracy and peace are shaken, into a new world of hope.
Fellow citizens, let us now, here, on the Korean Peninsula, realize the dream of peace and coexistence that our forebears so earnestly desired.
Creating a peaceful Korean Peninsula where we grow together on a foundation of trust, through coexistence and cooperation rather than hostility and through trust rather than distrust, is the very path to fully inheriting the spirit of the March 1 Revolution.
Let us never turn away from the firm lesson of history that hostility and confrontation benefit neither side.
Let us end this era of conflict and confrontation that has dragged on for more than half a century and stride forward toward a Korean Peninsula of peace, coexistence, and shared prosperity.
As we have said many times, our government will respect the North's system, and will neither engage in any hostile acts nor pursue any form of absorption unification.
As we have taken preemptive steps not in words but in deeds to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas and to restore mutual trust, we will consistently and steadily push forward with what is needed for peace on the Korean Peninsula and for rebuilding inter-Korean trust.
The unmanned aerial vehicle intrusion incident last year, which occurred entirely unrelated to this administration's intent, was a grave criminal act that threatened peace on the Korean Peninsula and something that should never have happened.
On this Korean Peninsula where the South and the North live together, actions that spark tension and clashes cannot be justified by any excuse.
We will thoroughly ascertain the facts, hold those responsible to account, and put in place institutional safeguards to ensure this never happens again.
We will continue efforts to resume dialogue with the North. As a pacemaker, we will communicate closely with the United States as well as neighboring countries so that U.S.-North Korea talks can resume swiftly.
We will make every effort to convert the armistice regime into a peace regime through practical tension reduction between the two Koreas and cooperation with relevant countries.
As the North is also formulating and implementing a new five-year plan, we hope it will promptly come to the table for talks so that, leaving behind the dark past, we can move forward together toward a new future.
We hope that the forebears' shouts for world peace will once again resound as a joint South-North pledge toward a Korean Peninsula of peace and shared prosperity.
Relations with Japan must also be advanced based on the March 1 spirit that pursued peace and mutual prosperity.
Korea and Japan have shared a checkered history. Traces of that painful history remain in many corners of our society, and there are victims who still suffer and their bereaved families.
In the past, the two countries opened the door to normalized diplomatic relations for a future of good-neighborliness and cooperation while carrying unhealed pain and wounds.
Over the past 60 years, Korea and Japan have deepened cooperation in every field—diplomacy, the economy, society, and culture—and developed relations as close neighbors who share the same front yard.
Now, facing a harsh international climate, is precisely the time for Korea and Japan to respond to reality and open the future together.
The government of popular sovereignty will, through pragmatic diplomacy, squarely face the past, tackle today's tasks together, and strive to move forward together toward the future.
Going forward, we will continue shuttle diplomacy with Japan so that people in both countries can better feel the benefits of progress in relations and so that we can actively help open new opportunities together.
We also expect the Japanese government to respond so that the two countries can open a "new world of friendship based on true understanding and empathy."
To respond wisely to an age of upheaval, harmony in Northeast Asia is more important than ever.
Early on, Patriot Ahn Jung-geun argued through his Theory of Peace in the East that cooperation among Korea, China, and Japan is the path to contributing to world peace.
Reflecting on the significance of peace and harmony in Northeast Asia, I have visited China and Japan in succession since the beginning of this year to stress that the three countries must find common ground, communicate, and cooperate.
As our forebears wished to extend peace in Northeast Asia to peace in the world, we will not stop our efforts for harmony and prosperity.
Fellow 52 million citizens of Korea and 7 million overseas Koreans, our forebears overcame small differences to unite as one, win independence, and lay the foundations of the Republic of Korea.
If our great people of Korea, inheriting that spirit, join forces to fully realize our potential, there is no reason we cannot make real the peaceful world our forebears dreamed of.
Let us, together, build the advanced democratic model state that our martyred forebears and patriots gave their lives hoping for, a peaceful Korean Peninsula free from the fear of war, and a Republic of Korea where culture blossoms and prosperity thrives.
With the spirit of the March 1 Revolution, let us together open the path of peace and democracy, mutual growth, and shared prosperity.
Together with the great people of Korea, we will move toward that radiance our forebears so ardently desired.
Thank you.