한국이 태어난 날 기념하는 개천절 경축행사 열려<br /><br /> Today is Gaecheonjeol here in Korea.<br />It's when Koreans celebrate the beginning of Go-joseon, the first dynasty in the nation's history, and its founder Dangun.<br />For more on the significance of this day and the events held to mark the occasion, we turn to our Lee Min Sun.<br /> Long ago, according to Korean legend, Hwanung, the son of the Lord of the Heaven, wanted to live on earth among humans. <br /><br />So he opened the sky and descended to Baekdusan Mountain, which sits on the border of today's North Korea and China. <br /><br />There, he laid the foundations for Gojoseon, the oldest dynasty in Korean history.<br /><br />Koreans regard Gaecheonjeol, or National Foundation Day, as the day when the nation's 4-thousand-plus years of history began. The name ‘Gaecheonjeol’ means "the day the sky opened."<br /><br />To mark this occasion, some 1000 people gathered in the heart of Seoul to commemorate the nation's beginning.<br /><br />"I wanted my daughter to learn what National Foundation Day is and came to celebrate the birthday of our country."<br /><br />"I’m an elementary school teacher but young kids don’t know that October 3rd is National Foundation Day. So I came out with my sons to attend this event."<br /><br /> The event started with an ancestral ritual to pay respect to the heavenly god. Participants wished for the peace and prosperity of the Korean peninsula.<br /><br /> At the nearby Bosingak Pavillion a special bell-tolling ceremony took place and the crowd cheered three times: once for the Republic of Korea, once for unification and once for peace for mankind. <br /><br />Participants wearing traditional attire and masks of Dangun, the legendary founder of Gojoseon, marched through the central district of Jongno-gu with hopes for Korea to play a bigger role in bringing peace to the peninsula and the world. <br /><br />Lee Min Sun, Arirang News. <br />
