Students from Jeonnam Gwangju and Seoul unite through sports

【Financial News, Jeonnam Gwangju = Hwang Tae-jong, staff reporter】Students from Jeonnam Gwangju and Seoul are uniting through sports. They will also reflect together on the historical significance of the Gwangju Student Independence Movement, which marks its 96th anniversary this year.
 The Student Independence Movement was a large-scale anti-Japanese protest that began in Gwangju on November 3, sparked by an incident at Naju Station on October 30, 1929, during the Japanese colonial period, in which Japanese middle school students harassed Korean female students. The movement spread across the country and grew into a large-scale anti-Japanese campaign, with approximately 54,000 people taking part over five months. November 3 has been designated Student Independence Movement Commemoration Day in its honor.
 The Jeonnam Gwangju Metropolitan City Office of Education (Gwangju Metropolitan City Office of Education) said on the 12th that it would jointly hold the “2026 Academic Year Seoul–Jeonnam Gwangju Student Sports Exchange Festival” with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the 14th at the Gwangju Student Sports Comprehensive Support Center and other venues.
 Superintendent Kim Dae-jung said, “I hope this exchange will give students from Jeonnam Gwangju and Seoul a chance to remember the spirit of the Gwangju Student Independence Movement together and share friendship and unity.”
 Students from Seoul’s Kyunggi High School and Sookmyung Girls’ High School, as well as Jeonnam Gwangju’s Gwangju Natural Science High School and Gwangju Supia Girls’ High School, will take part in the event. That day, students from the four schools will learn about the history of the Student Independence Movement at the Gwangju Student Independence Movement Memorial Hall and visit the memorial tower to lay flowers together.
 They will then be divided into boys’ and girls’ divisions at the Gwangju Student Sports Comprehensive Support Center for team jump rope and friendly basketball games, sharing the spirit of sportsmanship—fair competition, mutual respect and consideration—regardless of the outcome.
 Superintendent Kim Dae-jung said, “I will continue to support students in both regions so they can learn the values of history and democracy and grow up healthy through physical activity.”

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