Establishment of the Republic of Korea Government
Pursuant to a United Nations resolution,
general elections were held on May 10, 1948, in the southern half of
the peninsula (North Korea refused UN supervised elections). A constituent
national assembly was formed through the elections and the constitution
was framed based on democratic principles. The National Assembly then
elected Dr. Syngman Rhee as the first president of the republic. He
formed the government and promulgated the birth of the Republic of Korea
on August 15, 1948, after three years of U.S. military government.
During the period running up to the new government, maintenance of public
order and liquidation of the legacies of Japanese imperialism emerged
as urgent tasks. The ideological confrontation intensified between the
right and left wings before and after the inauguration of the government.
A pro-Communist military rebellion took place in Yeosu and Suncheon
on October 19, 1948. There were numerous other clashes and confrontations
between the two ideological camps. So, Rhee's government had to strengthen
the anti-Communist policies, quash ideological conflicts, and firmly
establish social order. |
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| A special ceremony inaugurating
the Republic of Korea Government on August 15, 1948. |
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In addition, the National Assembly enacted a law designed to punish "anti-national"
activities and clear away the legacies of Japanese imperialism. Many persons,
who had committed pro-Japanese activities were investigated and tried by an
ad hoc 10-member panel set up under the law. However, their punishment was not
fully carried out because the Syngman Rhee government placed top priority on
anti-Communist campaigns.
In the meantime, the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea, led by
Kim Il-sung, was formed in February 1946, serving as a virtual government in
the North. Then, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was formally
established on September 9, 1948, on the basis of a strengthened Communist ruling
system. It went about preparing for an invasion of the South to communize the
southern half by force. North Korea launched an all-out invasion across the
38th parallel on June 25, 1950, starting the Korean War.
The war raged on for three years, inflicting enormous casualties and suffering
on the Korean people. The entire Korean Peninsula was devastated and most industrial
facilities destroyed. At the same time, enmity ran deep between the South and
the North, further hardening the partition of the Korean Peninsula.
Tribulations of Democracy
Since the outbreak of the Korean War, the Syngman Rhee government tightened
its anti-Communist posture, restricting freedom of the people in the process.
It sought to prolong the rule by illegally revising the constitution to accommodate
a direct election of the president who has vast executive powers. As a result,
dictatorship intensified and corruption was rampant.
The ruling Liberal Party rigged votes blatantly in the 1960 presidential election
in an attempt to prolong its rule. Massive anti-government demonstrations by
students and citizens in April 1960 toppled the dictatorship. The Liberal Party
regime collapsed, President Rhee stepped down from office, and an interim government
was set up.
The interim government revised the constitution to adopt a parliamentary cabinet
and install Lower and Upper Houses of the National Assembly. General elections
held under the new law saw the birth of a cabinet headed by Chang Myon (John
M. Chang) of the Democratic Party. The Chang cabinet faced challenging tasks
of restoring public order, establishing a firm national security posture, and
realizing the people's aspirations for a peaceful reunification of Korea. The
tasks proved difficult, however, due to the incessant political wrangling within
the ruling Democratic Party and the social instability, stemming in part from
the unending street demonstrations. vCapitalizing on the social confusion, a
military clique, led by Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee, took power in a coup on May
16, 1961. The military suspended the constitution, formed a junta to impose
a military rule. Reneging on the pledge to return power to civilians, the military
formed a political party called Democratic Republican Party and amended the
constitution to introduce a power structure featuring strong presidential government
and unicameral National Assembly systems. Park won the presidential election
held under the revised constitution.
The Park Chung-hee government carried out strong and effective economic development
plans to modernize the country. It also normalized diplomatic relations with
Japan by concluding a bilateral pact in 1965.
Park moved to tighten his grip on power further with a string of emergency measures
in 1972. Under the so-called
Yusin (revitalizing reform) system, Park
sought to institutionalize his dictatorship. The Korean people, who were demanding
a liberal democracy, rejected Park's arbitrary system and exerted strong and
relentless resistance against the dictatorship. The
Yusin system was
brought to an abrupt end in October 1979 when Park was assassinated by a close
aide.
A new military force emerged in yet another coup on December 12, 1979 to fill
the void created in the aftermath of Park's death. The new military, led by
Maj. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, took control of the government after forcibly suppressing
the Gwangju civilian uprising for democracy in May 1980. The new junta revised
the constitution to introduce a single seven-year term for the president who
was to be indirectly elected. Chun was picked president under the new constitution.
Democratic Revolution
Under the Chun government's repressive rule, popular campaigns for democracy
spread nationwide, culminating in a massive protest rally in June 1987. The
government was forced to accept the people's demands for a set of democracy
measures on June 29. The constitution was revised again, reintroducing the direct
popular election of the president, this time for a single five-year term.
In the ensuing presidential election, however, Roh Tae-woo, who was the outgoing
Chun's military colleague, was elected as the pro-democracy force was unable
to produce a single candidate. The Roh government was credited with achieving
much in its foreign policy toward the Communist bloc, including establishing
diplomatic ties with the East European countries, the Soviet Union and China.
Also notable was Roh's positive diplomatic initiatives that enabled both South
and North Korea to join the United Nations simultaneously. The Roh administration
allowed quick liberalization of society, but with significant social confusion,
especially in the labor front. He also failed to cut the collusive relations
between the political power and conglomerates, himself accepting huge private
contributions.
Next came the Kim Young-sam government in 1993. The Kim government had the distinction
of eradicating corruption in the bureaucracy by legislating the property registration
system for public officials and the practice of real-name financial transactions.
Furthermore, it restored the local autonomy system that had been suspended since
the May 16, 1961 military coup. But, when the foreign currency crisis swept
across Asia during 1997-1998, his government failed to defend the nation's financial
system and eventually invited the intervention of the IMF for a bailout.
The Kim Dae-jung government was inaugurated in February 1998 with the avowed
objectives of overcoming the financial crisis and promoting market economy.
To achieve the goals, it brought openness and reform in overall national administration
and surmounted the economic difficulties. The government was credited with laying
the foundation for an eventual, peaceful reunification of Korea by successfully
holding the first-ever inter-Korean summit meeting under its policies of cooperation
and reconciliation with North Korea. It has also revitalized inter-Korean economic
cooperation and reunion of separated families between the two sides. However,
North Korea's nuclear weapons development program was exposed toward the end
of the Kim Dae-jung administration, eroding much of its achievements in reducing
tensions on the Korean peninsula and improving relations with the North.
In the December 2002 presidential election, Roh Moo-hyun from the ruling Millennium
Democratic Party won with a narrow margin over opposition candidate Lee Hoi-chang.
The former human rights lawyer initiated reforms pursuing full realization of
democracy in government operations as well as social practices and emphasing a
fair distribution of wealth. The new administration avowdly followed the engagement
policy toward North Korea as established by the previous Kim Dae-jung government,
seeking peaceful solution of the nuclear problem. From the Roh administration,
generational and ideological division became clearer in Korean society as the
younger, liberal force supported the government while the older, conservative
strata were in favor of the opposition party.
The Military Revolution and the Third and Fourth Republics
Before daybreak on May 16, 1961, in Korea, the sound of sporadic rifle fire
announced an uprising of military men. Battalions of soldiers, marines, and
paratroopers marched into Seoul, occupying the capital city in a lightning coup
led by Maj. Gen. Park Chung Hee.
Later that morning, the Military Revolutionary Committee, headed by Army Chief-of-Staff
Lt. Gen. Jang Doyeong, announced over the radio that it had taken over all three
branches of the government and proclaimed a six-point pledge: strong anticommunism,
respect for the U.N. Charter, closer relations with the United States and other
free nations, eradication of corruption, establishment of a self-supporting
economy, and efforts for national reunification. He also pledged transfer of
the government to civilian rule as soon as the revolutionary missions were accomplished.
The Revolutionary Committee, later renamed the Supreme Council for National
Reconstruction, set out implement its aims. A new constitution was approved
in a national referendum and promulgated in December 1963, thus inaugurating
the Third Republic. In the presidential election held in October the following
year, Park Chung Hee, who had resigned from the army, ran for office, despite
his original promise of retiring from politics, and was elected President. In
the National Assembly elections held in November, candidates from Park's Democratic
Republican Party won an impressive victory, forming a stable majority force.
With the stage thus set, Park formally took office in December.
In the 1967 presidential election, President Park, with 51.4 percent of the
total votes, was re-elected to a second four-year term over his chief opponent
Yun Po-sun. In 1971, he won a third term by defeating Kim Dae-jung.
Under President Park's leadership, the human and natural resources of the nation
were effectively organized for the first time in modern history. The economy
began to grow at an annual rate of 9.2 percent. Per capita GNP increased from
a mere US$87 in 1962 to US$1,503 in 1980, and exports rose by 32.8 percent a
year from US$56.7 million in 1962 to US$17.5 billion in 1980.
In the diplomatic area, relations were normalized with Japan in June 1965, putting
an end to the hiatus of formal bilateral relations due largely to antagonism
stemming from Japan's occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. It was also at
the initiative of President Park that the first formal inter-Korean dialogue
was begun. The Red Cross societies of the two parts of Korea began meetings
in September 1971, to discuss the question of locating and exchanging information
about relatives separated by the South-North division. Political contacts were
started in May 1972, culminating in the historic South-North Joint Communique
of July 4, 1972, in which South and North Korea agreed to work for peaceful
reunification.
Perceiving grave implications for Korea in the rapidly changing domestic and
international situation, the Park administration introduced new constitutional
amendments. These amendments were proposed in October 1972 and approved in a
subsequent national referendum. With the promulgation of the revised Constitution
in December, a new political order, referred to as the Yusin (Revitalizing Reforms)
system was established and the Fourth Republic inaugurated.
In the ensuing years, Korea successfully weathered the oil crisis and continued
to develop economically. The Saemaeul Undong (New Community Movement) brought
increasing prosperity to rural and urban areas and provided experience in problem
solving. Diplomatic relations continued to expand. Only the South-North dialogue
floundered and then came to a standstill.
Successful as he was in developing a backward economy and in modernizing certain
aspects of society, President Park relied on autocratic means in implementing
his policies. The Yusin Constitution made it possible for him to remain in office
indefinitely through well-controlled electoral procedures and also ensured him
a kind of built-in majority in the Legislature.
People began criticizing the harshly repressive measures of the government.
There was also criticism of the injustices perpetuated in the wake of policies
geared to rapid economic growth, particularly to the underprivileged. Trade
union movements were severely restricted. The combination of pent-up dissatisfaction
with the high-handed methods of the government and frustration in popular desire
for political participation and economic redistribution led to Park's demise.
On October 26, 1979, President Park was assassinated by the chief of the Korean
CIA, Kim Jae-gyu, and Prime Minister Choi Kyu-hah became acting President under
the Constitution. Shortly thereafter he was elected President by the National
Conference for Unification, an electoral college set up as part of the Yusin
system.
During the next several months, Korea went through a difficult period characterized
by political, social and economic instability. Hanging in balance was Korea's
development toward a fuller democracy or reversion to the autocratic past. Under
such circumstances, another military leader, Chun Doo Hwan, emerged. It also
was in the midst of this political upheaval that the tragic Gwangju incident
took place. In May 1980, civilian uprisings in that southern city protesting
the new military autocracy were harshly put down by troops, causing a large
number of casualties and providing an anti-government issue that was to linger
on for years.
Chun was subsequently elected President in the electoral college set up under
the Yusin Constitution on August 27, and in October, he promulgated a new revised
constitution, which limited the presidency to a single seven-year term.
The Fifth Republic
Following the establishment of the Fifth Republic, events moved quickly. Political
parties began to organize again in December 1980, and all political activities
were resumed in January 1981; martial law was lifted at the same time. A presidential
election was held in February along with National Assembly elections. On April
11, the opening session of the National Assembly, consisting of 276 members
from eight political parties, was convened and the groundwork for the Fifth
Republic was in place. On March 3, 1981, President Chun took office, promising
to build a "Great Korea" in a new era.
Although it was virtually the same as the Third and the Fourth Republics in
its autocratic governing-style, the Fifth Republic registered some remarkable
achievements, including the first-ever surplus in the international balance
of payments and a peaceful transfer of power at the end of the seven-year term
of President Chun, no small feat considering Korea's past record of political
upheaval at the end of every presidency. The period also was plagued by many
political problems, however, that tended to overshadow the accomplishments.
Questions included the legitimacy of the government itself and pressure for
constitutional change for the direct election of a president. The Sixth Republic
was born out of the need to find a solution to these pressing issues which had
grown to crisis proportions.
The Sixth Republic
The Sixth Republic began with the inauguration of Roh Tae Woo as President for
the 13th presidential term and the simultaneous implementation of the revised
Constitution. These events had been preceded by the June 29, 1987 Declaration
of Political Reforms in which Roh acceded to all of the opposition's demands,
thereby defusing the political crisis and providing for the first direct election
of the president in 16 years. The Sixth Republic, unlike the Fifth, thus began
on a positive note with the most serious political issues being resolved.
President Roh began his term of office promising that authoritarian rule would
end and that the June 29 Declaration would continue to be faithfully implemented.
Many steps were taken to change not only the appearance of the government but
the substance as well. These ranged from the repeal or revision of non-democratic
laws after the entire legal code had been reviewed, to the use of a round table
at presidential meetings to improve interaction with his ministers. A number
of people who had been detained on political charges were released and had their
civil rights restored. Institutional and non-institutional interference in press
activities and labor-management affairs was discontinued.
The elections for the 13th National Assembly held on April 26, 1988, ended with
surprising results. Not only was the ruling Democratic Justice Party unable
to win a working majority in the Assembly, but Kim Dae-jung's Party for Peace
and Democracy became the largest opposition party, with Kim Young Sam's Reunification
Democratic Party and Kim Jong-pil's New Democratic Republican Party placing
third and fourth respectively. In their first test of strength in the Assembly
after the elections, the strengthened opposition rejected President Roh's first
appointee for chief justice, although they later accepted his second choice.
The Assembly's first major work was the establishment of special committees
to look into various aspects of the Fifth Republic, including irregularities
of the government, the Gwangju pro-democracy movement of 1980, claims of election
fraud, controversial laws, and the problem of regionalism.
The political environment was shaken in January of 1990 when the ruling DJP,
in an effort to overcome its mere plurality status in the Assembly, managed
to bring in Kim Young Sam's RDP and Kim Jong-pil's NDRP. The three parties were
merged into the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP), which now commanded a two-thirds
majority in the legislative body.
The DLP won a landslide victory in local council elections on March 26 and June
20, 1991. In the 14th National Assembly elections held on March 24, 1992, however,
the ruling DLP fared much worse, failing to maintain its majority by a single
seat. This setback was only temporary as the DLP managed to recruit several
independent lawmakers to its flag, thereby regaining its simple legislative
majority.
The Kim Young Sam Administration
The election for the 14th presidential term was held on December 18, 1992. The
three major candidates were the ruling DLP's Kim Young Sam, the opposition Democratic
Party's Kim Dae-jung, and the newly founded United People's Party candidate
Chung Ju-yung, founder of the Hyundai Group. Kim Young Sam was elected, winning
42 percent of the votes, outpacing Kim Dae-jung, his former opposition party
colleague and fellow participant in the fight against authoritarian regimes.
Chung Ju-yung did not do as well as some had expected. Kim's election returned
Korea to the hands of a democratically elected civilian President for the first
time since the military coup d'etat of 1961.
In his inaugural remarks on February 25, 1993, President Kim Young Sam vowed
publicly to build a "New Korea," pledging to fight corruption in the public
and private sectors and to revitalize Korea's straining economy. President Kim
called on the Korean people to join him in building a New Korea by increasing
national discipline, cooperating more extensively and bearing a fair share of
the costs for improving economic prosperity. He urged Koreans to recapture their
evaporating industriousness, to stop the erosion of their values and regain
their self-confidence.
One of President Kim's initial measures after taking office was to open the
streets around Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office and residence complex,
to ordinary citizens. Under the previous authoritarian governments, citizens
had been barred access to the areas surrounding Cheong Wa Dae for security reasons.
In his first few months in office, President Kim was more active in his fight
against corruption than anyone could have ever imagined, unleashing a veritable
whirlwind of reform. His cabinet almost immediately published a "100-Day Plan
for the New Economy," a series of short-term measures designed to boost the
economy; this was later followed by the announcement of a New Five-Year Plan
for the New Economy, a set of long-term economy policies. The President also
announced the implementation of the real-name financial transaction system in
August 1993, a major economic reform designed to eliminate corruption and irregularities
in the economy.
Asserting that "no one should strive for power and money at the same time,"
President Kim also required the submission of financial statements by all major
government, political and military figures, most of which were made public.
Several of the initially appointed cabinet members were forced to resign when
the public became aware of their past improprieties. A number of DLP assemblymen
resigned or bolted from the party for similar reasons, and the prosecution moved
to indict others. The opposition DP, after releasing its own round of public
financial statements, also lost face when it could not agree on how to proceed
against several of its own assemblymen caught in the same snare. A common refrain
emerged in the press - "There's no stopping Y.S." - as the press had nicknamed
the new President, after his English initials.
President Kim expected his reform campaign against corruption to continue throughout
his five-year term, and at that point, no one doubted him. His anti-corruption
efforts extended to not only the administration and party, but also to the military,
universities, banks and even traffic police. Some of these sectors were known
as sanctuaries in past regimes.
The Kim Dae-jung Administration
With the inauguration of Kim Dae-jung as the 15th president of Korea on February
25, 1998, the era of Government of the People began. President Kim's inauguration
ushered in an era in which all the People were able to participate as the master
of the nation. In his inaugural speech, President Kim urged the nation to surmount
the national crisis and make a new beginning.
The December 18, 1997 presidential election was deeply significant in Korean
history, for President Kim's election signaled the first peaceful, democratic
transition of power from a ruling party to an opposition party in Korean history.
The election was a kind of social revolution, and one that could only have been
achieved through the ardent desires of the Korean people, who eagerly anticipated
the dawning of a new age in Korea, as a result of their new found power. News
media around the world described the inauguration, as the day genuine democracy
began in Korea and said President Kim was a world-class leader who could lead
his nation out of crisis and rebuild it.
President Kim said his Administration would overcome the economic crisis through
reform, undertake a spiritual revolution that would value the rights of the
individual, pursue educational reform, and end the Cold-War style confrontational
relationship with the North. He stressed his intention to create a participatory
democracy, one in which all people would be able to take part and control the
political direction of the nation. President Kim compared the financial crisis
to the Korean War and asked the nation to shed the same sweat and tears they
had shed at that time of turmoil, in order to overcome the current crisis without
fail. He took the position that only through reform and by sharing pain could
the crisis be overcome as soon as possible.
From the day after his election, President Kim began to work vigorously to help
the nation overcome the economic crisis and pull together. He formed the Tripartite
Committee of Representatives, made up of representatives of labor, management,
and government. He got right to work on restructuring the government and reducing
the number of civil servants. In this way, the government took the lead in national
efforts to share the pain. He also urged foreigners to invest in Korea and is
now pushing economic reform. These reforms include the restructuring of corporations,
a policy that will help strengthen the business environment and make Korea more
competitive in the world market.
Since his inauguration, President Kim steadily pursued a policy of engagement
toward North Korea. This policy of engagement, popularly called the "Sunshine
Policy," is widely considered as a solution to the South-North question. The
policy calls for the South to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,
along with reconciliation and cooperation with the North. President Kim's efforts
bore fruit in June of 2000, when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met President
Kim Dae-jung in Pyongyang for the first South-North summit talks on June 13-15,
2000. The two leaders signed the historic South-North Joint Declaration. The
two Koreas have since been working together to reduce tension on the peninsula,
solve humanitarian problems resulting from the Korean War, and increase economic
cooperation for mutual prosperity.
In recognition of President Kim's dedication to democracy and human rights in
his own country and the neighboring region, and his work for peace and reconciliation
with North Korea, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace
Prize for the year 2000.
The Roh Moo-hyun Administration
The Roh Moo-hyun administration, or the "Participatory Government," was launched
on February 25, 2003. The Roh administration, the 16th in the republic's history,
set forth three goals: "Democracy with the People," "Society of Balanced Development,"
and "Era of Peace and Prosperity in Northeast Asia."
The Roh Moo-hyun government was born by the strength of the people's power.
The voluntary fund-raising and election campaigns by those citizens who cherish
principles and commonsense led to Roh's victory in the presidential election.
First and foremost, the Roh government was created on the basis of the power
of popular participation. As such, popular participation will play a pivotal
role in the future operation of the government, as it did during its birth.
