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 Dae-jung was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the 8th president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003.
Kim Jae-gyu was a South Korean politician,army lieutenant general and the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. He assassinated South Korean President Park Chung Hee—who had been one of his closest friends—on October 26,1979,and was subsequently executed by hanging on May 24,1980.
The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency,during the rule of general Park Chung Hee’s military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction,which displaced the Second Republic of Korea. The original duties of the KCIA were to supervise and coordinate both international and domestic intelligence activities and criminal investigations by all government intelligence agencies,including that of the military. The agency’s broad powers allowed it to actively intervene in politics. Agents undergo years of training and checks before they are officially inducted and receive their first assignments.
On August 8,1973,the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) kidnapped South Korean dissident leader and future president of South Korea Kim Dae-jung from a conference of Korean anti-authoritarian reformers in Tokyo,Japan.
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.
The Fourth Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from November 1972 to March 1981.
The Fifth Republic of South Korea was the government of South Korea from March 1981 to December 1987.
Human rights in South Korea are codified in the Constitution of the Republic of Korea,which compiles the legal rights of its citizens. These rights are protected by the Constitution and include amendments and national referendum. These rights have evolved significantly from the days of military dictatorship to the current state as a constitutional democracy with free and fair elections for the presidency and the members of the National Assembly.
Park Chung Hee,the third President of South Korea,was assassinated on October 26,1979,during a dinner at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) safe house near the Blue House presidential compound in Jongno District,Seoul,South Korea. It was the first assassination of a head of state in South Korea and in Korea in 605 years,since the assassination of Gongmin of Goryeo. Kim Jae-gyu,the director of the KCIA and the president's security chief,was responsible for the assassination. Park was shot in the chest and the head,and died almost immediately. Four bodyguards and a presidential chauffeur were also killed. The incident is often referred to as "10.26" or the "10.26 incident" in South Korea.
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 Seoul Spring was a period of democratization in South Korea from 26 October 1979 to 17 May 1980. This expression was derived from the Prague Spring of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The October Yusin or October Restoration was an October 1972 South Korean self-coup in which President Park Chung Hee assumed dictatorial powers. Park had come to power as the head of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction after the May 16 coup of 1961,and in 1963 he won elections and assumed office as civilian president.
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.
The Coup d'état of May Seventeenth was a military coup d'état carried out in South Korea by General Chun Doo-hwan and Hanahoe that followed the Coup d'état of December Twelfth.
Kim Young-sam,often referred to by his initials YS,was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the 7th president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998.
Park Chung Hee was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the third President of South Korea from 1962 to 1979 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961. He is regarded as one of the most consequential leaders in Korean history,although his legacy as a military dictator continues to cause controversy.
Chun Doo-hwan was a South Korean politician,army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988.
The Busan–Masan Uprising or abbreviated,the Bu-Ma Uprising,was a series of demonstrations and popular uprising against President Park Chung Hee's dictatorial Yushin regime in South Korea. It took place between 16 and 20 October 1979 in Busan and Masan. Students from Pusan National University began demonstrations calling for an end to Park's dictatorship. On 17 October the protests grew to include citizens and spread to Masan on 18 and 19 October. It is also called the Busan–Masan Democratic Uprising or Busan–Masan Democratization Movement.
Political repression in South Korea refers to the physical or psychological maltreatment,including different levels of threats suffered by individuals or groups in South Korea for different kinds of political reasons throughout the country's history.
