I think a big part of what motivated Koreans into direct action against the Japanese colonial rule was the history of a foreign influence on the Korean peninsula. As a country with their own cultures and traditions, for much of its history it was under the rule of either the Chinese or the Japanese. That being said, I think that the language of the Declaration of Independence was a large contributing factor to the growing Anti-Japanese Colonlialist sentiment in Korea. You can see this determination to be free of foreign rule in the March declaration, but I think it also was a very polarizing document for the citizens of Korea. While the Japanese did eventually loosen up their policies on freedom of speech and promote Korean publications, I think at that point the ideologies were cemented in the two factions of Korea. One being the nationalists and the other being the socialists. I think this does exemplify the connection between action and motivation. While the actions sought by the Declaration of Independence were noble, the framing of the declaration divided the citizenry and ultimately prevented the Koreans from attaining that indepdendence
