South Korea has honored the 85th anniversary of the founding of the government-in-exile during the Japanese colonial rule.

Acting President Goh Kun was on hand at a ceremony marking the occasion held at Kim Koo Museum and Library in central Seoul, a facility dedicated to the prominent independence fighter from whom it takes its name.

Goh said the government and the people must come together to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and called for efforts to break down regional and social barriers to usher in a new era of national unity.

Goh added that achieving national unity is the only way to recompense for all the sacrifices made by forefathers who fought for national independence from 1910 to 1945 during the Japanese colonial rule.

The provisional government was established in exile in 1919 in Shanghai, China as the highest governing body of Koreans. It coordinated diplomatic and military strategies until the country regained sovereignty from Japan in 1945.