The history of South Korea formally begins with the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. Noting that, South Korea and North Korea are entirely different countries, despite still being the same people and on the same peninsula.
Syngman Rhee was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
The Korean Provisional Government (KPG), formally the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, was a partially recognized Korean government-in-exile based in Shanghai, China, and later in Chongqing, during the period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea.
The first Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from August 1948 to April 1960. The first republic was founded on 15 August 1948 after the transfer from the United States Army Military Government that governed South Korea since the end of Japanese rule in 1945, becoming the first independent republican government in Korea. Syngman Rhee became the first president of South Korea following the May 1948 general election, and the National Assembly in Seoul promulgated South Korea's first constitution in July, establishing a presidential system of government.
The 1948 South Korean Constitutional Assembly election took place on 10 May 1948. It was held under the American military occupation, with supervision from the United Nations, and resulted in a victory for the National Association for the Rapid Realisation of Korean Independence, which won 55 of the 200 seats, although 85 were held by independents. Voter turnout was 95.5%.
The April Revolution, also called the April 19 Revolution or April 19 Movement, were mass protests in South Korea against President Syngman Rhee and the First Republic from April 11 to 26, 1960 which led to Rhee's resignation.
Chang Myon was a South Korean statesman, educator, diplomat, journalist and social activist as well as a Roman Catholic youth activist. He was the only prime minister of the parliamentary Second Republic. In addition, during the First Republic he was the fourth and last vice president of South Korea. His styled name (ho) was Unseok. His English name was John Chang Myon.
Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 16 December 1987. They marked the establishment of the Sixth Republic, as well as the end of the authoritarian rule that had prevailed in the country for all but one year since its founding in 1948. They were the first direct presidential elections since 1971. For the previous 15 years, presidents had been indirectly elected by the National Conference for Unification, an electoral college dominated by the governing party.
The National Election Commission is independent constitutional institution in South Korea, established to manage free and fair elections, national referendums and other administrative affairs concerning political parties and funds. The agency was established in accordance with Article 114 of the Constitution of South Korea. The NEC has equal status as highest constitutional institution as National Assembly, the Executive Ministries, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. This highly independent status of NEC reflects national will to overcome past histories such as election rigging of South Korea in 1960.
Indirect presidential elections were held in South Korea on 12 August 1960, which saw the election of Yun Posun as President of the Republic of Korea, a ceremonial political position in the Second Republic. Held after the April Revolution which had forced the resignation of Syngman Rhee, it was the only presidential elections to be held during the short era of the Second Republic, as the Republic folded after Park Chung-hee's May Coup the next year. The election was indirect, with a joint session of the House of Commons and Senate, which had been elected in July, acting as the electors. The winning candidate required the assent of two thirds of the members of both houses.
Lee Chul-seung was a South Korean 7-term National Assemblyman and a founding father of the Republic of Korea after the Korean War (1950–1953). A political heavyweight, Lee was an independence and democracy fighter and leader; anti-communism; anti-military rule; anti-Japanese rule; an advocate of bipartisanship particularly when it came to national security; and an advocate of non-governmental organizations. After Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, Lee "led a student union that opposed a trusteeship, under which Korea would be governed by foreign powers after World War II, and entered politics in 1954 after winning a parliamentary seat." Lee and his two political rivals former President Kim Young-sam and former President Kim Dae-jung were famous for their political competition and the establishment and development of democracy in South Korea. He was given an honorable burial for his life contributions at the Seoul National Cemetery on March 2, 2016 where former South Korean presidents are also buried.
Kim Young-sam was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998.
Sin Ik-hui was a Korean independence activist and politician during the period of Japanese rule. He was Speaker of the National Assembly during President Syngman Rhee's first term and second term. His nickname was Haegong or Haehu ; his courtesy name was Yeogu.
The Korea Independence Party was a political party in South Korea.
Events from the year 1948 in South Korea.
The Democratic Party was a political party in South Korea. The party was the first truly organized liberal opposition against Syngman Rhee's Liberal Party, and is considered as the predecessor to the lineage of the South Korean liberal parties.
Cho Bong-am was a South Korean independence activist and politician, who ran for president in the South Korean presidential election in 1956. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Korea and the Progressive Party, a moderate socialist democratic party in South Korea which was one of the country's major political forces.
Elections to the Interim Legislative Assembly were held in South Korea in October 1946.
The Left-Right Coalition Movement(Korean: 좌우합작운동) or Left-Right Coalition Committee was a movement, led by the Centrists in 1946, which sought to promote cooperation between the Left- and Right-wingers of Korea in establishing a unified, peninsula-wide government after Japanese occupation. It failed in its goal after facing increasing domestic political radicalization and after losing the support of the United States when it adopted a firm anti-communist stance at the beginning of the Cold War.
Im Yeong-sin, also known by the English name Louise Yim, was a South Korean educator and politician. She was both the first female minister in South Korea, holding the post of Minister of Commerce and Industry from 1948 to 1949, and the first woman elected to the South Korean parliament, serving from 1949 to 1954. Yim also helped establish Chung-Ang University.
