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.
Syngman Rhee was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee is also known by his art name Unam. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea from 1919 to his impeachment in 1925 and from 1947 to 1948. As president of South Korea, Rhee's government was characterised by authoritarianism, limited economic development, and in the late 1950s growing political instability and public opposition.
The Gwangju Uprising, known in Korean as May 18, was a series of student-led demonstrations that took place in Gwangju, South Korea, in May 1980, against the coup of Chun Doo-hwan. The uprising was violently suppressed by the South Korean military. The uprising is also known as the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, the Gwangju Democratization Struggle, the May 18 Democratic Uprising or the Gwangju Uprising in South Korea.
The United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) was the official ruling body of the southern half of the Korean Peninsula from 8 September 1945 to 15 August 1948.
Constitutional Assembly elections were held in South Korea on 10 May 1948. They were held under the U.S. 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%.
The Workers' Party of South Korea was a communist party in South Korea from 1946 to 1949. It is also sometimes colloquially referred to as the "Namro Party". It was founded on 23 November 1946 through the merger of the Communist Party of South Korea, New People's Party of Korea and a faction of the People's Party of Korea. It was led by Ho Hon.
The Bodo League massacre was a massacre against communists and alleged communist-sympathizers that occurred in the summer of 1950 during the Korean War. Estimates of the death toll vary. Historians and experts on the Korean War estimate that between 60,000 and 200,000 people were killed.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established on December 1, 2005, is a South Korean governmental body responsible for investigating incidents in Korean history which occurred from Japan's rule of Korea in 1910 through the end of authoritarian rule in South Korea with the election of President Kim Young-sam in 1993.
The Yeosu-Suncheon rebellion, also known as the Yeo-Sun incident, was a rebellion that began in October 1948 and mostly ended by November of the same year. However, pockets of resistance lasted through to 1957, almost 10 years later.
Song Yo Chan was prime minister of South Korea from 3 July 1961 to 16 June 1962. Previously, he had been the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 22 July 1961 – 10 October 1961 and was a lieutenant general. He ordered the arrest of corrupt officers in the army. He had studied politics and economics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. During the final days of the First Republic of South Korea of president Syngman Rhee, he declared martial law and forced the president to resign. Song Yo Chan refused to quell student-led protesters even though the police asked for bullets and troops. These protests are known as the April Revolution.
The Autumn Uprising of 1946, also called the 10.1 Daegu Uprising of 1946 was a peasant uprising in South Korea against the policies of the United States Army Military Government in Korea headed by General John R. Hodge and in favor of restoration of power to the people's committees that made up the People's Republic of Korea. The uprising is also sometimes called the Daegu Riot or Daegu Resistance Movement. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea uses a neutral name, the Daegu October Incident.
The Ganghwa massacre was a massacre conducted by the South Korean forces, South Korean Police forces and pro-South Korean militiamen, between 6 and 9 January 1951, of 212 to 1,300 unarmed civilians in the Ganghwa county of the Incheon metropolitan city in South Korea. The victims were collaborators with the Korean People's Army during North Korean rule. Before this massacre, 140 people were executed in Ganghwa as part of the Bodo League massacre in 1950.
Chae Myung-shin was a South Korean army officer who commanded South Korean military forces in the Vietnam War. He was also the co-founder of the Korean Taekwondo Association.
The South Korean government, under the regime of Park Chung Hee, took an active role in the Vietnam War. The Korean War (1950-1953) was fresh on the minds of the Korean people, with the threat from North Korea still very real. South Korea's decision to join resulted from various underlying causes, including the development of US-South Korea relations, political exigencies like the fight against Communism, and the promise of economic aid from the United States. Under the wartime alliance, the South Korean economy flourished, receiving tens of billions of dollars in grants, loans, subsidies, technology transfers, and preferential economic treatment. From September 1964 to March 1973, South Korea sent some 350,000 troops to South Vietnam. The South Korean Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force all participated as an ally of the United States. The number of troops from South Korea was much greater than those from Australia and New Zealand, and second only to the U.S. military force for foreign troops located in South Vietnam. The military commander was Lieutenant general Chae Myung-shin of the South Korean army. Participation of Korean forces in the war included both non-combatant and combatant roles.
Events from the year 1948 in South Korea.
Kim Dal-sam was a Korean school teacher and communist revolutionary. He led insurgents of the Workers' Party of South Korea during the Jeju uprising.
Kim Ik-ryeol, also romanized as Kim Ik Ruhl and Kim Ing-nyol, was an officer in the Republic of Korea military and leader of government forces on Jeju Province during the first month of the Jeju uprising.
The National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju 4.3 Events was a truth commission in South Korea established in 2000. The commission aimed to investigate the Jeju 4.3 events, which refers to a "series of armed uprisings and counterinsurgency that occurred between 1948 and 1954 on Jeju island, the largest island in the southernmost part of South Korea." Announcing 14,028 victims, the first report of the commission was published in 2003, following an official apology by President Roh Moo-hyun, and his participation in a memorial service held in commemoration of the events, in 2006. However the commission continued to be in operation through 2009, carrying out various reparation projects as well as the screening of victims, thus making it the lengthiest truth commission in history.
The People's Tribunal on War Crimes by South Korean Troops during the Vietnam War was a citizen's tribunal organised by South Korean social organizations including Minbyun, Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation, The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan during 21–22 April 2018.
The North-West Youth Association, also known as the Northwest Youth League, was a far-right anti-communist South Korean paramilitary group active during the Cold War. It is most well known for committing widespread atrocities during the South Korean government-led suppression of the Jeju Uprising.
United States Army Military Government in Korea (until August 1948)
South Korea (from August 1948)
Kim Dal-sam 
