Korean Political History I: Chapter 3, Exercise 1 — Possible Solution
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TASK
Explain the steps by which each state was formed, which foundings the sources
describe as involving an election, and what limits on those elections the
sources mention.

SOUTH
1. 10 May 1948: election to a 200-seat Constituent National Assembly.
2. 17 July: the assembly adopts a constitution modeled on the US system.
3. 20 July: the assembly elects Syngman Rhee president.
4. 15 August: the Republic of Korea is declared and the military government
   ends.

NORTH
1. Autumn 1945: Kim Il Sung arrives (19 September) and is introduced to the
   public (14 October).
2. February 1946: People's Committees reorganized as Communist-dominated
   Interim People's Committees.
3. August 1946: the Workers' Party of North Korea is formed by a merger.
4. December 1946: elections in which the Workers' Party-led Democratic Front
   wins; August 1948: a new Supreme People's Assembly is elected.
5. 9 September 1948: the DPRK is established with Kim as premier.

LIMITS MENTIONED
South: a boycott by Kim Koo and Kim Kyu-sik; abstention by much of the left
and nationalist right; about 323 deaths in the violence before the vote; the
north could not take part because of Soviet obstruction.
North: the sources call the December 1946 result a win for the party-led
front and mention no competing slate; I could not verify how those elections
were run.

CAUTION
"Election" in both cases is the sources' word; they do not say the two were
comparable.