Page 71 - NAKS MAC 2026 EBook

2026년 독립기념 ‘코리아 리뷰’ 에세이

Isaac Joh

Freedom is easy to take for granted when you are born into it. I never had to fight
for my freedom, but my family has lived with the consequences of a war fought
over a country that had only recently regained it. My great-grandfather was
captured during the Korean War, and his wife, my great-grandmother, had
faithfully waited for him to come back until her own passing.

Although I never knew him, his absence is a part of my family's history—and a
reminder that independence is not simply something written in a history book.
The first time I began to understand Korea’s struggle for independence was not
through a history textbook, but through the television screen in my living room,
perched on top of a pianowe use as a stand. The show playing on that screen was

Mr. Sunshine, a K-drama that brought Korea’s fight for independence to life
through characters who chose resistance despite knowing its cost.

The character that resonated with me the most was Eugene Choi, a Korean-born
American Marine sent to serve in Joseon. His dilemma was one of belonging:
born Korean but shaped by America, Eugene found himself caught between
Korea’s struggle for independence and the American independence that had
already given him a new life. Watching him, I began to recognize a similar
uncertainty in myself. Growing up, I had celebrated American independence
while carrying a Korean heritage rooted in quite different struggles for freedom.
How could both histories of independence shape the person I was becoming?

As a full-fledged American public school student, I have had stories of countless
American patriots, such as soldiers who left their families to fight the
Revolutionary War and figures like Nathan Hale, who accepted death rather than
betray the cause he believed in, sacrificing their lives for the right to represent
themselves in the government have been drilled into me. et, learning about
Korean independence revealed a different history of sacrifice that carried a

familiar purpose. In 1919, thousands of Koreans took to the streets during the
March 1st Movement to demand independence, knowing that peaceful protest
could bring imprisonment, violence, or death. Activists such as Yu Gwan-sun
continued to resist even after being imprisoned, while others, including Ahn
Jung-geun, ultimately gave their lives for Korean independence.

The circumstances of the American Revolution and Korean independence
movement were vastly different, but I began to see a parallel between them:
ordinary people were willing to sacrifice their safety, freedom, and even their
lives so that a future generation could have the right to determine its own future.

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