South Korea

TIMELINE SOUTH KOREA·        From 1910-1945 Korea was under control of the Japanese. When World War II ended, Japan surrendered to the U.S. and Soviet Union, and therefore, Korea gained independence from Japan. The U.S. and the Soviet Union divided the peninsula’s ownership into two, the U.S. in the south and the Soviet Union in the North. In 1945, the first American military based government arrived in South Korea however; they had issues controlling a country where they did not know the language or culture. The People’s Republic of Korea, which had been established before the Americans arrived, was declared invalid and President Kim Koo was forced to step down. To solve this, the U.S. created the Korean Advisory Council and a year later, they established their own government. ·       In August of 1948, Syngman Rhee elected president and the First Republic of Korea formally established. Under his control, new governments were established within South Korea. In July, the National Assembly decided on a constitution in which the country was run by a strong president who was elected by the National Assembly. By December of that year, the United Nations recognized the Republic of Korea. ·       On June 25, 1950, North Korea began to invade South Korea. The war was messy at first, since all though North Korea was equipped with Soviet made tanks and weapons, their methods of transporting supplies were unreliable, and sometimes, civilians were forced to transport weapons to the North Koreans. While South Korea had a U.S. trained army and American made weapons, these were considered weak compared to the weapons of the North Koreans. South Koreans were quickly fleeing the country; however the surrender the North hoped for was no more, when U.S. forces as well as forces from other foreign nations began to intervene with UN approval. 3 years later, in 1953, armistice ends war, but has cost both North and South Korea about 2 million lives.  ·       April 19, 1960, students and laborers protested in an attempt to overthrow President Syngman Rhee, who committed electoral fraud by changing the process to give him self an 8 year term. This was also known as the April Revolution.  On April 26, Rhee resigned and the First Republic of Korea ended. ·       July 29, 1960, the Democratic Party which had been the original opposition of the First Republic of Korea won power and established the Second Republic of Korea. This constitution took on a parliamentary cabinet system, the first and only time when this system was used in South Korea.  The elected president was Yun Po Sun and the prime minister as well the head of the government was Chang Myon. However controlling the country was not easy, since after the First Republic of Korea, many liberal and student groups and unions had formed and demonstrations protesting against them were happening frequently.  During this time period, unemployment rates and wholesale prices grew. ·       May 16, 1961, Major General Park Chung-hee was one of the military leaders who were not satisfied with the choice of a parliamentary system and the overall way things were going in South Korea, all of this caused by the Second Republic of Korea. On that date, he led a military coup that ended the Second Republic and on December 2, 1962, South Korea was officially back to the democratic system and while the other military leaders made a promise to one another not to run for president, Park Chung-hee did. He won the elections in 1963. ·       Park Chung-hee ran again in 1967. In his doing so, he changed the constitution which originally allowed each president two term, he gave himself too and allowed himself to run again for a third term.  He did run again in 1971, therefore receiving his third term of presidency. This was also the beginning of the Third Republic of Korea. During the time of the Third Republic, their main goal was to rebuild strong ties with Japan and the United States as well as receiving large amounts of aid from them. In this time, economy in South Korea also grew rapidly. However, Park Chung-hee also wished to reunite South and North Korea. On October 1972, he declared martial law and ended the National Assembly and the democratic way of presidential elections.  ·       In 1972, Park Chung-hee and the Fourth Republic of Korea decided on a new constitution, the Yusin Constitution, which enabled him to take control of the parliament. While Park Chung-hee began to grow unpopular amongst the public, economy was still growing in South Korea. ·       1979, Park Chung-hee assassinated. Military coup led by Major General Chun Doo-hwan in December and later, martial law declared and Fifth Republic of Korea started. Student unions and laborers broke out in protest against the new law. 1980, Gwanju Massacre took place in the city of Gwanju when university students broke out in a citywide riot that lasted 9 days after their school had been closed by the military and more than 2000 civilians had been killed. 1987, first democratic elections happened.  ·       The Sixth Republic of Korea started and their first president was Roh Tae-woo who was elected by popular vote in 1987. The second president was Kim Young-sam who was elected in 1992. Kim Dae-jung was the third president and he was elected in 1997. That year was also the year South Korea suffered from a financial crisis, but recovered well from it. South Korea also was able to turn their government into a solid democracy once again. Kim Dae-jung started the Sunshine Policy in an attempt to make final peace with North Korea; this act awarded him with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. Roh Moo-hyun elected in 2002. Current president is Lee Myung-bak.