Republic of Korea founded

On August 15, 1948, in front of Seoul's government building, the Republic of Korea was formally proclaimed, with the 73-year-old Syngman Rhee as its first president. The date was chosen for the third anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan. For the first time in nearly four decades, Koreans had their own recognized government, although it governed only the southern half of the peninsula. Three weeks later, on September 9, a rival state, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, was proclaimed in the north.¹²

Korea had been annexed by Japan in 1910 and ruled as a colony until Japan's surrender in August 1945. Within days of Japan's surrender, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to divide the country at the 38th parallel for the purpose of accepting Japanese surrender, with the Americans in the south and the Soviets in the north. As the Cold War deepened, talks on a trusteeship and a joint government broke down. In 1947 the United States took the issue to the United Nations, whose General Assembly called for elections across all of Korea under a UN commission. The Soviets refused to let the commission into the north.²⁴

The elections were therefore held only in the south, on May 10, 1948, for a National Assembly of about 200 seats. Voting was disrupted by leftist boycotts and violence, including an uprising on Jeju island. The Assembly adopted a constitution on July 17 and elected Rhee, a veteran independence campaigner who had a doctorate from Princeton, as president. The UN General Assembly declared in December 1948 that the Republic was the only lawful government in Korea, though in practice it governed only the south. Rhee's rule grew increasingly authoritarian, and in June 1950 North Korea invaded, beginning the Korean War. South Korea later became one of the world's most dynamic democracies and economies.¹²