THE WHOLE HISTORY OF SOUTH KOREA 
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Welcome to Countries Facts so Today in this Article I will show you the whole history of south korea formally begins with the japanese surrender on september 2nd 1945. noting that south korea and north korea are entirely different countries despite still being the same people and on the same peninsula korea was administratively partitioned in 1945 at the end of world war ii as korea was under japanese rule during world war ii korea was officially a belligerent against the allies by virtue of being japanese territory the unconditional surrender of japan led to the division of korea into two occupation zones with the united states administering the southern half of the peninsula and the soviet union administering the area north of the 38th parallel this division was meant to be temporary and was first intended to return a unified korea back to its people after the united states united kingdom soviet union and china could arrange a single government for the peninsula the two parties were unable to agree on the implementation of joint trusteeship over korea because of two different opinions this led in 1948 to the establishment of two separate governments with the two very opposite ideologies the communist-aligned democratic people's republic of korea and the west aligned first republic of korea each claiming to be the legitimate government of all of korea on june 25 1950 the korean war broke out after much destruction the war ended on july 27 1953 with the 1948 status quo being restored as neither the dprk nor the first republic had succeeded in conquering the other's portion of the divided korea the peninsula was divided by the korean demilitarized zone and the two separate governments stabilized into the existing political entities of north and south korea south korea's subsequent history is marked by alternating periods of democratic and autocratic rule civilian governments are conventionally numbered from the first republic of singh and re to the contemporary sixth republic the first republic arguably democratic at its inception became increasingly autocratic until its collapse in 1960. the second republic was strongly democratic but was overthrown in less than a year and replaced by an autocratic military regime the third fourth and fifth republics were nominally democratic but are widely regarded as the continuation of military rule with the sixth republic the country has gradually stabilized into a liberal democracy since its inception south korea has seen substantial development in education economy and culture since the 1960s the country has developed from one of asia's poorest to one of the world's wealthiest nations education particularly at the tertiary level has expanded dramatically it is said to be one of the four tigers of rising asian states along with singapore taiwan and hong kong u.s military administration emperor hirohito announced the surrender of the empire of japan to the allied powers on august 15 1945. general order number one for the surrender of japan prescribes separate surrender procedures for japanese forces in korea north and south of the 38th parallel after japan's surrender to the allies division at the 38th parallel marked the beginning of soviet and u.s occupation the north and south respectively this division was meant to be temporary to be replaced by a trusteeship of the united states united kingdom soviet union and republic of china which would prepare for korean independence the trusteeship had been discussed at the alta conference in february 1945. u.s forces landed at incheon on september 8 1945 and established a military government shortly thereafter lieutenant general john r hodge their commander took charge of the government faced with mounting popular discontent in october 1945 hodge established the korean advisory council the provisional government of the republic of korea which had operated from china sent a delegation with three interpreters to hajj but he refused to meet with them likewise hajj refused to recognize the newly formed people's republic of korea and its people's committees and outlauded on 12th of december a year later an interim legislature and interim government were established headed by kim kyu sheikh and singh and re respectively political and economic chaos arising from a variety of causes plagued the country in this period the after-effects of the japanese exploitation remained in the south as in the north in addition the u.s military was largely unprepared for the challenge of administering the country arriving with no knowledge of the language culture or political situation thus many of their policies had unintended destabilizing effects waves of refugees from north korea and returnees from abroad added to the turmoil in december 1945 a conference convened in moscow to discuss the future of korea a five-year trusteeship was discussed and a u.s soviet joint commission was established the commission met intermittently in seoul but deadlocked over the issue of establishing a national government in september 1947 with no solution in sight the united states submitted the korean question to the u.n general assembly the resolution from the u.n general assembly called for a u.n supervised general election in korea but after the north rejected this proposition a general election for a constitutional assembly took place in the south only in may 1948. a constitution was adopted setting forth a presidential form of government and specifying a four-year term for the presidency according to the provisions of the constitution an indirect presidential election took place in july rhee singhman as head of the new assembly assumed the presidency and proclaimed the republic of korea on august 15 1948 first republic on august 15 1948 the republic of korea was formally established with singhman re as the first president with the establishment of ri's government the jury sovereignty also passed into the new government on september 9 1948 a communist government the democratic people's republic of korea was proclaimed under kim il-sung however on december 12 1948 by its resolution 195 in the third general assembly the united nations recognized the republic of korea as the sole legal government of korea in 1946 the north implemented land reforms by confiscating private property japanese and pro-japanese-owned facilities and factories and placed them under state ownership demand for land reform in the south grew strong and it was eventually enacted in june 1949. koreans with large land holdings were obliged to divest most of their land approximately 40 percent of total farm households became small landowners however because preemptive rights were given to people who had ties with landowners before liberation many pro-japanese groups obtained or retained properties with the country now divided the relationship between the two koreas turned more antagonistic as time passed the soviet forces having withdrawn in 1948 north korea pressured the south to expel the united states forces but resought to align his government strongly with america and against both north korea and japan although talks towards normalization of relations with japan took place they achieved little meanwhile the government took in vast sums of american aid in amount sometimes knew the total size of the national budget the nationalist government also continued many of the practices of the u.s military government in 1948 the re-government repressed military uprisings in jeju sunshine and yesu during the rebellion and its suppression 14 000 to 60 000 people were killed in all fighting of note president rei's regime was intolerant of opposition a famous event that highlighted this was the arrest and conviction of future president park chung-hee for communist conspiracy in 1948. the main policy of the first republic of south korea was anti-communism and unification by expanding northward the south's military was neither sufficiently equipped nor prepared but the re-administration was determined to reunify korea by military force with aid from the united states however in the second parliamentary elections held on may 30 1950 the majority of seats went to independents who did not endorse this position confirming the lack of support in the fragile state of the nation when the communist army attacked from the north in june retreating south korean forces executed tens of thousand suspected communists or sympathizers either in prison or in a re-education movement in what is known as the bodo league massacre on june 25 1950 north korean forces invaded south korea led by the u.s a 16-member coalition undertook the first collective action under the united nations command in defense of south korea oscillating battle lines inflicted a high number of civilian casualties and rod immense destruction with the people's republic of china's entry on behalf of north korea in late 1950 the fighting came to a stalemate close to the original line of demarcation armistice negotiations initiated in july 1951 finally concluded on july 27 1953 at panmunjom now in the demilitarized zone following the armistice the south korean government returned to seoul on the symbolic date of august 15 1953 after the armistice south korea experienced political turmoil under years of autocratic leadership of singmen re which was ended by student revolt in 1960. throughout his rule re sought to take additional steps to cement his control of government these began in 1952 when the government was still based in busan due to the ongoing war in may of that year rhee pushed through constitutional amendments which made the presidency a directly elected position to do this he declared martial law arrested opposing members of parliament demonstrators and anti-government groups re was subsequently elected by a wide margin re-regained control of parliament in the 1954 election and thereupon pushed through an amendment to exempt himself from the eight-year term limit and was once again re-elected in 1956. soon after rei's administration arrested members of the opposing party and executed the leader after accusing him of being a north korean spy the administration became increasingly repressive while dominating the political arena and in 1958 it sought to amend the national security law to tighten government control over all levels of administration including the local units these measures caused much outrage among the people but despite public outcry rei's administration rigged the march 1960 presidential election and won by a landslide on that election day protests by students and citizens against the irregularities of the election burst out in the city of maasan initially these protests were quelled with force by local police but when the body of a student was found floating in the harbor of maasan the whole country was enraged and protests spread nationwide on 19th of april students from various universities and schools rallied and marched in protest in the seoul streets in what would be called the april revolution the government declared martial law called in the army and suppressed the crowds with open fire subsequent protests throughout the country shook the government and after an escalated protest with university professors taking to the streets on april 25th resubmitted his official resignation on april 26 and fled into exile second republic after the student revolution power was briefly held by an interim administration under the foreign minister heojiang a new parliamentary election was held on july 29 1960. the democratic party which had been in the opposition during the first republic easily gained power in the second republic was established the revised constitution dictated the second republic to take the form of a parliamentary cabinet system where the president took only a nominal role this was the first and the only instance south korea turned to a parliamentary cabinet system instead of a presidential system the assembly elected jung bo seon as president and chiang mai as the prime minister and head of government in august 1960. the second republic saw the proliferation of political activity which had been repressed under the re-regime much of this activity was from leftist and student groups which had been instrumental in the overthrow of the first republic union membership and activity grew rapidly during the later months of 1960 including the teachers union journalists union and the federation of korean trade union around 2000 demonstrations were held during the eight months of the second republic under pressure from the left the chang government carried out a series of purges of military and police officials who had been involved in anti-democratic activities or corruption a special law to this effect was passed on october 31 1960. forty thousand people were placed under investigation of these more than two thousand two hundred government officials and four thousand police officers were purged in addition the government considered reducing the size of the army by 100 000 although this plan was shelved in economic terms as well the government was faced with mounting instability the government formulated a five-year economic development plan although it was unable to act on it prior to being overthrown the second republic saw the juan lose half of its value against the dollar between fall 1960 and spring 1961. the government had been established with support of the people it had failed to implement effective reforms which brought about endless social unrest political turmoil and ultimately the may 16th coup military rule the may 16 coup led by major general park chung-hee on may 16 1961 put an effective end to the second republic park was one of a group of military leaders who had been pushing for the depoliticization of the military dissatisfied with the cleanup measures undertaken by the second republican convinced that the current disoriented state would collapse into communism they chose to take matters into their own hands the national assembly was dissolved and military officers replaced the civilian officials in may 1961 the hunter declared pledges of the revolution anti-communism strengthened relations with the united states an end to government corruption termed fresh and clean morality a self-reliant economy working towards reunification and a return to democratic civilian government within two years as a means to check the opposition the military authority created the korean central intelligence agency in june 1961 with kim jong-peel a relative of park as its first director in december 1962 a referendum was held on returning to a presidential system of rule which was allegedly passed with a 78 majority park and the other military leaders pledged not to run for office in the next elections however park became presidential candidate of the new democratic republican party which consisted of mainly sha officials ran for president and won the election of 1963 by a narrow margin third republic park's administration started the third republic by announcing the five-year economic development plan and export-oriented industrialization policy top priority was placed on the growth of a self-reliant economy and modernization development first unification later became the slogan of the times and the economy grew rapidly with vast improvement in industrial structure especially in the basic and heavy chemical industries capital was needed for such development so the park regime used the influx of foreign aid from japan and the united states to provide loans to export businesses with preferential treatment in obtaining low-interest bank loans and tax benefits cooperating with the government these businesses would later become the chable relations with japan were normalized by the korea-japan treaty ratified in june 1965. this treaty brought japanese funds in the form of loans and compensation for the damages suffered during the colonial era without an official apology from the japanese government sparking much protest across the nation the government also kept close ties with the united states and continue to receive large amounts of aid a status of forces agreement was concluded in 1966 clarifying the legal situation of the u.s forces stationed there soon thereafter korea joined the vietnam war eventually sending a total of 300 000 soldiers from 1964 to 1973 to fight alongside u.s troops and south vietnamese armed forces economic and technological growth during this period improved the standard of living which expanded opportunities for education workers with higher education were absorbed by the rapidly growing industrial and commercial sectors and urban population surged construction of the gyeongbu expressway was completed and linked seoul to the nation's southeastern region and the port cities of incheon and busan despite the immense economic growth however the standard of living for city laborers and farmers was still low laborers were working with low wages to increase the price competitiveness for the export-oriented economy plan and farmers were in near poverty as the government controlled prices as the rural economy steadily lost ground and caused dissent among the farmers however the government decided to implement measures to increase farm productivity and income by instituting the same all movement in 1971. the movement's goal was to improve the quality of rural life modernize both rural and urban societies and narrow the income gap between them park ran again in the 1967 presidential election taking 51.4 percent of the vote at the time the presidency was constitutionally limited to two terms but a constitutional amendment was forced through the national assembly in 1969 to allow him to seek a third term major protests and demonstrations against the constitutional amendment broke out with large support gaining for the opposition leader kim dae-young but park was again re-elected in the 1971 presidential election parliamentary elections followed shortly after the presidential election where the opposition party garnered most of the seats giving them the power to pass constitutional amendments park feeling threatened declared a state of national emergency on december 6 1971. in the midst of this domestic insecurity the nixon doctrine had eased tensions among the world superpowers on the international scene which caused a dilemma for park who had justified his regime based on the state policy of anti-communism in a sudden gesture the government proclaimed a joint communique for reunification with north korea on july 4 1972 and held red cross talks in seoul and pyongyang however there was no change in government policy regarding reunification and on october 17 1972 park declared martial law dissolving the national assembly and suspending the constitution fourth republic the fourth republic began with the adoption of the yushin constitution on november 21 1972. this new constitution gave park effective control over the parliament and the possibility of permanent presidency the president would be elected through indirect election by an elected body and the term of presidency was extended to six years with no restrictions on reappointment the legislature and judiciary were controlled by the government and educational guidelines were under direct surveillance as well textbooks supporting the ideology of the military government were authorized by the government diminishing the responsibilities of the ministry of education despite social and political unrest the economy continued to flourish under the authoritarian rule with the export-based industrialization policy the first two five-year economic development plans were successful and the third and fourth five-year plans focused on expanding the heavy and chemical industries raising the capability for steel production and oil refining however large conglomerate cables continuously received preferential treatment and came to dominate the domestic market as most of the development had come from foreign capital most of the profit went back to repaying the loans and interest students and activists for democracy continued their demonstrations and protests for the abolition of the yuxin system and in the face of continuing popular unrest parks administration promulgated emergency decrees in 1974 and 1975 which led to the jailing of hundreds of dissidents the protests grew larger and stronger with politicians intellectuals religious leaders laborers and farmers all joining in the movement for democracy in 1978 park was elected to another term by indirect election which was met with more demonstrations and protests the government retaliated by removing the opposition leader kim young-sam from the assembly and suppressing the activists with violent means in 1979 mass anti-government demonstrations occurred nationwide in the midst of this political turmoil park chung he was assassinated by the director of the shah kim jq thus bringing the 18-year rule of military regime to an end fifth republic after the assassination of park chung-hee prime minister choi kuha took the president's role only to be usurped six days later by major general chun do hwan's 1979 coup d'etat december 12th in may of the following year a vocal civil society composed primarily of university students and labor unions led strong protests against authoritarian rule all over the country chun do-hwan declared martial law on may 17 1980 and protests escalated political opponents kim dae-young and kim jong-pee were arrested and kim young-sam was confined to house arrest on may 18 1980 a confrontation broke out in the city of guangzhou between protesting students of chanum national university and the armed forces dispatched by the martial law command the incident turned into a city-wide protest that lasted nine days until may 27 and resulted in the guangzhou massacre immediate estimates of the civilian death toll ranged from a few dozen to 2000 with a later full investigation by the civilian government finding nearly 200 deaths and 850 injured in june 1980 chun ordered the national assembly to be dissolved he subsequently created the national defense emergency policy committee and installed himself as a member on 17th of july he resigned his position of chi director and then held only the position of committee member in september 1980 president choi kuha was forced to resign from president to give way to the new military leader chun do hwan in september of that year chun was elected president by indirect election and inaugurated in march of the following year officially starting the fifth republic a new constitution was established with notable changes maintaining the presidential system but limiting it to a single seven-year term strengthening the authority of the national assembly and conferring the responsibilities of appointing judiciary to the chief justice of the supreme court however the system of indirect election of the president state and many military persons were appointed to highly ranked government positions keeping the remnants of the yuching era the government promised a new era of economic growth and democratic justice tight monetary laws and low interest rates contributed to price stability and helped the economy boom with notable growth in the electronics semiconductor and automobile industries the country opened up the foreign investments in gdp rose as korean exports increased this rapid economic growth however widened the gap between the rich and the poor the urban and rural regions and also exacerbated into regional conflicts these dissensions added to the hardline measures taken against opposition to the government fed intense rural and student movements which had continued since the beginning of the republic in foreign policy ties with japan were strengthened by state visits by chun to japan and japanese prime minister yasuhiro nakasone to korea u.s president ronald reagan also paid a visit and relations with the soviet union and china improved the relationship with north korea was strained when in 1983 a terrorist bomb attack in burma killed 17 high-ranking officials attending memorial ceremonies and north korea was alleged to be behind the attacks however in 1980 north korea had submitted a one nation two system reunification proposal which was met with a suggestion from the south to meet and prepare a unification constitution and government through a referendum the humanitarian issue of reuniting separated families was dealt with first and in september 1985 families from both sides of the border made cross visits to seoul and pyongyang in an historic event the government made many efforts for cultural development the national museum of korea seoul art center and national museum of contemporary art were all constructed during this time the 1986 asian games were held successfully and the bid for the 1988 summer olympics in seoul was successful as well despite economic growth and success in diplomatic relations the government that gained power by coup d'etat was essentially a military regime and the public support and trust in it was low when the promises for democratic reform never materialized in the 1985 national assembly elections opposition parties won more votes than the government party clearly indicating that the public wanted a change many started to sympathize with the protesting students the guangzhou massacre was never forgotten and in january 1987 when a protesting seoul national university student died under police interrogation public fury was immense in april 1987 president chun made a declaration that measures would be taken to protect the current constitution instead of reforming it to allow for the direct election of the president this announcement consolidated and strengthened the opposition in june 1987 more than a million students and citizens participated in the nationwide anti-government protests of the june democracy movement on june 29 1987 the government's presidential nominee rotayu gave into the demands and announced the june 29 declaration which called for the holding of direct presidential elections and restoration of civil rights in october 1987 a revised constitution was approved by a national referendum and direct elections for a new president were held in december bringing the fifth republic to a close sixth republic roteu 1988-1993 wrote au became president for the 13th presidential term in the first direct presidential election in 16 years although roh was from a military background and one of the leaders of chun's coup d'etat the inability of the opposition leaders kim dae young and kim young-sam to agree on a unified candidacy led to him being elected the first female presidential candidate hong suk ja even withdrew from the race in order to back kim young sam against roh row was officially inaugurated in february 1988. the government set out to eliminate past vestiges of authoritarian rule by revising laws and decrees to fit democratic provisions freedom of the press was expanded university autonomy recognized and restrictions on overseas travels were lifted however the growth of the economy had slowed down compared to the 1980s resulting in stagnant exports while commodity prices kept on rising shortly after rose inauguration the seoul olympics took place raising south korea's international recognition and also greatly influencing foreign policy rose government announced the official unification plan nord politic and establish diplomatic ties with the soviet union china and countries in east europe a historic event was held in 1990 when north korea accepted the proposal for exchange between the two koreas resulting in high-level talks and cultural and sports exchanges in 1991 a joint communique on denuclearization was agreed upon and the two koreas simultaneously became members of the u.n kim young sam 1993-1998 kim young-sam was elected president in the 1992 elections after rose tenure he was the country's first civilian president in 30 years since 1962 and promised to build a new korea the government set out to correct the mistakes of the previous administrations local government elections were held in 1995 and parliamentary elections in 1996. in a response to popular demand former presidents chun and roh were both indicted on charges linked to bribery illegal funds and in the case of chun responsibility for the guangzhou massacre they were tried and sentenced to prison in december 1996. relations with the north improved in a summit meeting was planned but postponed indefinitely with the death of kim il-sung tensions varied between the two koreas thereafter with cycles of small military skirmishes and apologies the government also carried out substantial financial and economical reforms joining the oecd in 1996 but encountered difficulties with political and financial scandals involving his son the country also faced a variety of catastrophes which claimed many lives a train collision and a ship sinking in 1993 and the songsu bridge and sampong department store collapses in 1994 and 1995. these incidents were a blow to the civilian government in 1997 the nation suffered a severe financial crisis and the government approached the international monetary fund for relief funds this was the limit to what the nation could bear and led to the opposition leader kim dae young winning the presidency in the same year this is the first time an opposition candidate won the presidency kim dae-young 1998-2003 in february 1998 kim dae-young was officially inaugurated south korea had maintained its commitment to democratize its political processes and this was the first transfer of the government between parties by peaceful means kim's government faced the daunting task of overcoming the economic crisis but with the joint efforts of the government's aggressive pursuit of foreign investment cooperation from the industrial sector and the citizens gold collecting campaign the country was able to come out of the crisis in a relatively short period of time industrial reconstruction of the big conglomerate cables was pursued a national pension system was established in 1998 educational reforms were carried out government support for the it field was increased and notable cultural properties were registered as unesco cultural heritage sites the 2002 fifa world cup co-hosted with japan was a major cultural event where millions of supporters gathered to cheer in public places in diplomacy kim dae-young pursued the sunshine policy a series of efforts to reconcile with north korea this culminated in reunions of the separated families of the korean war in a summit talk with north korean leader kim yong-el for these efforts kim dae-young was awarded the nobel peace prize in 2000 romeo young 2003-2008 romu young was elected to the presidency in december 2002 by direct election his victory came with much support from the younger generation and civic groups who had hopes of a participatory democracy and rose administration consequently launched with the motto of participation government unlike the previous governments the administration decided to take a long-term view and execute market-based reforms at a gradual pace this approach did not please the public however and by the end of 2003 approval ratings were falling the roe administration succeeded in overcoming regionalism in south korean politics diluting the collusive ties between politics and business empowering the civil society settling the korea united states fta issue continuing summit talks with north korea and launching the high-speed train system ktx but despite a boom in the stock market youth unemployment rates were high real estate prices skyrocketed and the economy lagged in march 2004 the national assembly voted to impeach row on charges of breach of election laws and corruption this motion rallied his supporters and affected the outcome of the parliamentary election held in april with the ruling party becoming the majority roh was reinstated in may by the constitutional court who had overturned the verdict however the ruling party then lost its majority in by-elections in 2005 as discontinued reform plans continual labor unrest rose personal feuds with the media and diplomatic friction with the united states and japan caused criticism of the government's competence on political and socio-economic issues and on foreign affairs in april 2009 romu yun and his family members were investigated for bribery and corruption roe denied the charges on may 23 2009 roh committed suicide by jumping into a ravine lee myung-bak 2008-2013 rose successor lee myung-bok was inaugurated in february 2008. stating creative pragmatism as a guiding principle lee's administration set out to revitalize the flagging economy re-energize diplomatic ties stabilize social welfare and meet the challenges of globalization in april 2008 the ruling party secured a majority in the national assembly elections also that month summit talks with the united states addressed the korea u.s free trade agreement and helped ease tensions between the two countries caused by the previous administrations lee agreed to lift the ban on u.s beef imports which caused massive protests and demonstrations in the months that followed as paranoia of potential mad cow disease gripped the country many issues plagued the government in the beginning of the administration starting from the destruction of the nam demon gates in which the government was accused for not providing adequate security further controversies arose over the years regarding the appointment of high-ranking government officials rampant political conflicts accusations of oppression of media and strained diplomatic relationships with north korea and japan the economy was affected by the global recession as the worst economic crisis since 1997 hit the country the lee administration tackled these issues by actively issuing statements reshuffling the cabinet and implementing administrative and industrial reforms after regulatory and economic reforms the economy bounced back with the country's economy marking growth and apparently recovering from a global recession the administration also pursued improved diplomatic relations by holding summit talks with the united states china and japan and participating in the asean rock commemorative summit to strengthen ties with other asian countries the 2010 g20 summit was held in seoul where issues regarding the global economic crisis were discussed park geun-hye 2013-2017 park geun-hye was inaugurated in february 2013. she is the 18th president of south korea and is the eldest child of south korea's stratocratic third president park chung-hee she was the first woman to be elected south korean president and to be elected as a head of state in the modern history of northeast asia over the years however her reputation was marred by her incompetency of handling the say while fairy disaster and later a major scandal leading to her impeachment in december 2016 the corruption scandal involving choi soon sill quickly blew up after reports from multiple news organizations in 2016 nationwide protests ensued on a weekly basis with participant count hitting a maximum of over 2.3 million these protests turned out to be the biggest series of mass protests in korean history the protests continued even after the congress voted on park's impeachment prime minister huang kyon acted as president of south korea pending completion of investigations into the actions of park geun-hye and in the absence of any intervening election the impeachment was upheld by the constitutional court on march 10 2017 ending park's presidency and forcing her out of office moon jae-in 2017 present moon jae-in is the current president of south korea he was inaugurated on may 10 2017. as president moon jae-in has met with north korean chairman kim jong-un at the april 2018 inter-korean summit may 2018 inter-korean summit and september 2018 inter-korean summit the kobat-19 pandemic affected the nation in 2020. that same year south korea recorded more deaths than births resulting in a population decline for the first time on record in april 2020 president moon's democratic party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections it took took 180 c and thank you for watching and leave any suggestions or corrections in the comments below and subscribe to this website keep up with the latest content Goodbye.
