Syngman Rhee's Authoritarian First Republic & Its Collapse

Korean Political History I: Colonization, Division & the Road to Democracy

Chapter 5 · Syngman Rhee's Authoritarian First Republic & Its Collapse

Chapter 3 introduced Rhee as the south's first president, and Chapter 4 showed him refusing to sign the armistice. This chapter covers how the First Republic (August 1948 to 1960) was run, how Rhee changed the rules to stay in office, and how a rigged election in March 1960 ended in his resignation within six weeks. The sources are short reference summaries. They are detailed enough to date the main steps, but several important episodes of Rhee's rule appear in them only in passing or not at all, and the chapter marks those gaps.

Changing the Rules

The First Republic governed South Korea from August 1948 to June 1960 under Rhee, and is described as the first independent republican government in Korea. The constitution of July 1948 (Chapter 3) had the assembly elect the president. Rhee consolidated power through two constitutional changes.

Year	Change	How the source describes it
1952	The presidency became a directly elected position.	Rhee, based in Busan during the Korean War, "pushed through constitutional amendments" by declaring martial law.
1954	Term limits were removed.	The source says only that he "secured removal of term limits"; I did not find the vote or the mechanism.

A Pattern Worth Naming In both cases the change was to the rules for holding office, and in the first case it was made under martial law. Later chapters in this course meet the same pattern again: Park Chung-hee's 1972 constitution (Chapter 6) and the constitutional settlement of 1987 (Chapter 8). Whether the pattern is best described as a tendency of Korean presidents or as a feature of any strongly presidential system is a judgment the sources here do not make.

Repression During the War

The same source says the government was implicated in severe atrocities during the Korean War, including the Bodo League massacre, in which authorities "executed 60,000 to 200,000 suspected communists." It also says Rhee aligned strongly with the United States while maintaining "unification by force" as policy toward the north, which matches his refusal to sign the armistice (Chapter 4).

A Very Wide Range, and One Source The range of 60,000 to 200,000 is more than threefold, and I found it in only one summary. I did not research who ordered the killings, where they occurred or how the estimates were derived. Quote it as a range attributed to that source, and do not turn it into a single number.

The April Revolution

Date (1960)	Event
15 March	An election is held in which Vice Presidential candidate Lee Ki-poong wins "with an abnormally wide margin." Sources describe it as rigged. One summary places violent repression of student protests on this date.
11 April	A fisherman in Masan harbor finds the body of Kim Ju-yul, a student. Protesters find that his skull had been split by a 20-centimeter tear-gas grenade, contradicting official claims that he drowned.
19 April	"Bloody Tuesday": over 100,000 high school and university students march to the Blue House calling for Rhee's resignation. Police open fire, killing approximately 180.
25 April	Professors join students and citizens in large protests outnumbering soldiers and police, who refuse to attack the protesters.
26 April	Rhee resigns.
29 May	Rhee goes into exile in Hawaii.

What Triggered It

A rigged election, and then the discovery of a student's body that contradicted an official account. The sources treat the second as what turned dissatisfaction into mass action, though I did not research the earlier Masan protests.

Who Took Part

Students first, then professors and ordinary citizens. The sources name students and professors but give no breakdown by occupation beyond that.

Why It Succeeded

According to the April Revolution source, soldiers and police refused to attack the protesters on 25 April. I did not find the US government's role or the army's internal deliberations, so I do not describe them.

Two Descriptions of 15 March The First Republic summary places violent repression of student protests on 15 March, while the April Revolution summary describes 15 March as the rigged election, with the killing of protesters on 19 April. These may refer to different events on the same date, or one may be imprecise. I could not resolve it, so the timeline above follows the more detailed April Revolution source.

What Replaced the First Republic

The Second Republic replaced it, adopting a parliamentary system with Yun Po-sun as president and Chang Myon as prime minister. The First Republic is dated to June 1960. Rhee died in Honolulu on 19 July 1965.

What I Did Not Verify I did not find sources for the 1958 National Security Law, the fate of opposition figures such as Cho Bong-am, the 1956 election, or the death of Rhee's opponent Cho Byung-ok before the 1960 vote. These are important parts of the First Republic's story, and the chapter should not be read as a full account of it. I also have no source on the Second Republic beyond the two names above; Chapter 6 covers what ended it.

Hands-On Exercises

Exercise 1

Set out the two constitutional changes of the Rhee years, say what each did to the rules for holding office, and note what the sources do not say about how they were passed.

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Exercise 2

Write a careful sentence about the Bodo League massacre using the chapter's figure, and explain why quoting it as "about 130,000" would be wrong.

→ Solution

Exercise 3

Using the timeline, explain why the events of 11 April and 25 April were turning points, and name one thing about the April Revolution that the chapter could not explain.

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Quick Reference

First Republic: August 1948 to June 1960 under Syngman Rhee
1952: direct presidential election, amendments pushed through under martial law from Busan; 1954: term limits removed
Bodo League massacre: "60,000 to 200,000" suspected communists executed (single source, wide range)
15 March 1960: rigged election, Lee Ki-poong wins by an abnormally wide margin
11 April: Kim Ju-yul's body found in Masan; 19 April: Blue House march, about 180 killed; 25 April: professors join; 26 April: Rhee resigns; 29 May: exile in Hawaii
Second Republic: parliamentary; Yun Po-sun president, Chang Myon prime minister
Not covered: the 1958 National Security Law, Cho Bong-am, the 1956 election