The history of South Korea begins with the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. At that time, South Korea and North Korea were divided, despite being the same people and on the same peninsula. In 1950, the Korean War broke out. North Korea overran South Korea until US-led UN forces intervened. At the end of the war in 1953, the border between South and North remained largely similar. Tensions between the two sides continued. South Korea alternated between dictatorship and liberal democracy.It underwent substantial economic development.
Kim Jong-pil, also known colloquially as JP, was a South Korean politician and the founder/first director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. He served as Prime Minister twice, from 1971 to 1975 during the presidency of Park Chung Hee (1961–1979) and from 1998 to 2000 during the presidency of Kim Dae-jung (1998–2003). He was a nine-term National Assembly member.
Yun Po-sun was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the second president of South Korea from 1960 to 1962. He was the only president of the short-lived Second Republic of Korea, and served as little more than a figurehead due to its nature as a parliamentary system.
The Supreme Council for National Reconstruction (Korean: 국가재건최고회의) was the ruling military junta of South Korea from May 1961 to December 1963.
The Second Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from April 1960 to May 1961.
The Third Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from December 1963 to November 1972. The Third Republic was founded on the dissolution of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction that overthrew the Second Republic and established a military government in May 1961. Park Chung Hee, the Chairman of the Supreme Council, was elected President of South Korea in the 1963 presidential election.
The Fourth Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from November 1972 to February 1981.
The Fifth Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from February 1981 to February 1988.
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 art name was Unseok (운석). 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, as presidents had been indirectly elected by an electoral college dominated by the governing party in the intervening period.
Yun Chi-Young was a Korean independence activist, journalist, and politician, diplomat of South Korea. He was the first Interior Minister (1948), 2nd Republic of Korea Ambassador to France from 1950 to 1951, 1st, 2nd and 3rd National Assembly of South Korea and 13th Mayor of Seoul from 1963 to 1966. His art name is Dongsan (Korean: 동산).
Two-stage presidential elections were held in South Korea in February 1981. An electoral college was elected on 11 February, which in turn elected the president on 25 February. They were the last indirect presidential elections controlled by the government of Chun Doo-hwan under the new 1980 constitution. Chun was re-elected with 90% of the electoral college vote.
The May 16 military coup d'état was a military coup d'état in South Korea in 1961, organized and carried out by Park Chung Hee and his allies who formed the Military Revolutionary Committee, nominally led by Army Chief of Staff Chang Do-yong after the latter's acquiescence on the day of the coup. The coup rendered powerless the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Chang Myon and President Yun Posun, and ended the Second Republic, installing a reformist military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction effectively led by Park, who took over as chairman after General Chang's arrest in July.
Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 3 May 1967. The result was a victory for Park Chung Hee, who won 51.4% of the vote. Voter turnout was 83.6%.
Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 27 April 1971. The result was a victory for incumbent president Park Chung-hee, who won 53.2% of the vote. Voter turnout was 79.8%. Within a year of his re-election, Park declared martial law and introduced the Yushin Constitution, which vested him with sweeping and near-dictatorial powers.
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 election 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.
The New Democratic Party was a South Korean opposition party that existed from 1967 to 1980, when it was forcibly dissolved by the ninth amendment of the constitution promulgated by Chun Doo-hwan the same year. It was the main opposition party during the Park Chung-hee dictatorial regime, and especially since 1972, when the Yushin constitution was put into effect.
The Democratic Party was a political party in South Korea. The party was the first truly organized liberal opposition against Syngman Rhee's conservative Liberal Party, and is considered as the predecessor to the lineage of the South Korean liberal parties.
The Civil Rule Party, sometimes referred to as the Civil Rights Party, was a political party in South Korea. The party was the successor to the Democratic Party, supported by former President Yun Posun, and future Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam. On May 11, 1965, it merged with the Democratic Party to become the People's Party.
The June 3 resistance movement, also known as 6.3 resistance or the movement against the Korea-Japan negotiations was initiated in June 1964 by students and citizens against the Park Chung Hee administration effort to negotiate the normalization of South Korea and Japan diplomatic relations.
