History of Aegukga The name Aegukga literally means a ‘Love Song for the Country,’ and it has come to function like a pronoun for Korea’s national anthem. Korea’s national anthem took on its lyrics and melody for the first time under the name of Aegukga towards the end of Joseon Dynasty at the onset of the modernization period. With the very first issue published of the Independence Daily in 1896, varying lyrics of the national anthem made the newspaper, although there are no certain records of which melodies these lyrics were being sung to. There is but one credible source that indicates that a military marching band named the Great Korean Empire wrote a national anthem in 1902 titled ‘Aegukga of The Great Korean Empire’and performed it at major events. The lyrics of today’s Aegukga are assumed to have been created around 1907, the time when the country was in turmoil due to attacks from foreign powers, in order to boost one’s patriotism and loyalty to the country. The lyrics, which went through a series of changes by a number of lyricists until final they were finalized, were sung to the melody of the Scottish folk song, Auld Lang Syne, until Ahn Ik-Tae, who was working overseas as a musician, composed the present day Aegukga in 1935. Although the interim government of Korea chose this new version of Aegukga as the official anthem, the new melody was only known in overseas countries, and people of Korea continued to sing the lyrics to the Scottish folk song until the new permanent government was established following the independence.

Once the permanent government was established in 1948, Aegukga gained its deserved recognition as it became printed in textbooks and as people began singing it at official events of the government in the present-day lyrics and the melody composed by Ik-Tae Ahn. Gradually, Aegukga became widely known in overseas countries also as the official national anthem of Korea. We, as Korean people, are compelled to remember and honor our forefathers’undying love for the country each time we sing Aegukga, the song that stayed with the people of Korea for nearly a century filled with tears of happiness and sorrow.