[100 Years Ago Today] November 14, 1926 – Ten Days After the First “Gagya Day,” a Sunday in Gyeongseong Beneath the New Government-General Building

Hook Opening

As you wind down your Sunday, picture a language celebrating its first birthday in a restaurant. Ten days before this date, in the Korean capital then called Gyeongseong, a few hundred people gathered to mark the day the Korean alphabet was proclaimed. Colonial rule had not stopped them. We could not confirm the weather or prices for November 14 itself, and we will not invent them.

Korea Under Colonial Rule

On November 4, 1926, the Korean Language Society (Joseon Eo Yeonguhoe) and the magazine publisher Sinminsa held the first “Gagya Day” at Sikdowon, a restaurant in Jongno. The Society had worked out from the royal annals that the alphabet, Hunminjeongeum, was proclaimed on the 29th day of the ninth lunar month. In 1926 that fell on November 4. The name “Gagya” comes from the old drilling order of letters, “ga-gya, geo-gyeo, go-gyo.” In 1928 it was renamed Hangul Day. Reports say a Korean braille system for the blind, Hunmaeng Jeongeum, was also announced that day.

Across town stood the new Government-General building, completed in January 1926 and occupied on October 1. A people guarding their language and a government building built to rule them shared one skyline.

The Peninsula and Its Courtrooms

Prosecutors’ records of the Seoul District Court show interrogations in the Korean Communist Party case continuing into November: Yang Jae-sik and Yi Yong-jae on the 1st, Kim Hang-jun on the 2nd, Hong Deok-yu on the 3rd, and Son Jae-gi on the 22nd. These documents give dates of questioning, not verdicts. Earlier in the year Emperor Sunjong had died in April, and mourners’ cries in June became the June 10th Movement. Six weeks after this Sunday, on December 28, Na Seok-ju would throw bombs at the Oriental Development Company and the Chosun Industrial Bank. Gyeongseong did not yet know.

The World Stage

In London, the Imperial Conference had been in session since October 19. Its committee, chaired by Lord Balfour, was shaping the principle that Britain and its Dominions were equal in status, later called the Balfour Declaration. Sources differ on the closing date, November 22 or 23.

In Nicaragua, Adolfo Díaz was inaugurated president on this very day, after Emiliano Chamorro resigned on November 11. Washington recognized him on November 17. The Liberal leader José María Moncada refused, and launched a new offensive on December 1. A distant fuse had been lit.

Colonial Parallels

The same weeks produced two kinds of “equality.” In London, Dominions governed by settlers won a declaration of equal status. In Korea, equality was something people practiced on a small scale: a shared alphabet, a printed name in a court record, a braille page. The contrast is a reminder that colonial worlds were not one experience. India, Ireland and the Philippines each had their own paths, and we do not claim a direct link between these events.

Understanding Daily Life

We found no record of this Sunday’s streets, trams or markets, so we offer only what is documented. A Korean-language radio station was being organized: the Gyeongseong Broadcasting Company was set up as an incorporated association this month, funded by eight Japanese and three Korean investors, with registration reported on November 30. Regular broadcasts under the call sign JODK began on February 16, 1927. The airwaves were still empty.

Century Mirror

Today Hangul Day is a national holiday each October 9, and any listener of K-pop or viewer of K-drama is hearing the alphabet that was first toasted in a restaurant room. A century ago it needed a society, a magazine and a rented hall. That is the long arc of this Sunday: small gatherings kept a language lit until it could become a nation’s voice.

Tomorrow’s Preview

Tomorrow is Monday, November 15. Join us again this evening at 10:10 PM KST. Good night.

Sources: Korean Language Society and Gagya Day reporting; Seoul District Court prosecutors’ records (Korea University); literature on the 1926 Imperial Conference and Nicaragua. Contemporary newspaper text for November 14, weather and prices were not verified.