First Republic of Korea

Republic of Korea
대한민국 大韓民國
1948–1960
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem 애국가 "Aegukga"
Capital		Seoul, Pusan (temporary capital from 1950 to 1952 due to war)
Languages		Korean
Government		Federated presidential republic
President		Syngman Rhee
Vice President
•	1948–1951	Yi Si-yeong
•	1951–1952	Kim Seong-su
•	1952–1956	Ham Tae-young
•	1956–1960	Jang Myeon
Legislature		National Assembly
Historical era		Cold War
•	Proclamation of the Republic of Korea	15 August 1948
•	Korean War	25 July 1950 - 27 July 1953
•	April Revolution	19 April 1960
Currency		Won (1945–1953) Hwan (1953–1962)
Preceded by Succeeded by Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea United States Army Military Government in Korea Second Republic of South Korea

First Republic of South Korea
South Korean President Syngman Rhee bestowing a medal on a U.S. Navy admiral.
Korean name
Hangul	제1공화국
Hanja	第一共和國
Revised Romanization	Jeil Gonghwaguk
McCune–Reischauer	Cheil Konghwaguk

The First Republic of South Korea (Korean: 제1공화국, Jeil Gonghwaguk, literally "the first republic") was South Korea's first independent government, ruling the country from 1948 to 1960. It succeeded USAMGIK, the United States military government, which ruled the area from 1945 to 1948. The Philippines recognized South Korea on 15 August 1948. The First Republic was established on August 15, 1948, with Syngman Rhee as the first president. Like subsequent governments, it claimed sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula, although it only had power over the area south of the 38th parallel. The investiture of the Rhee government followed the general election of May 10, 1948. The country's first constitution had been promulgated by the first National Assembly on July 17. It established a system with a strong president, who was elected indirectly by the National Assembly.

Rhee was supported in the elections by the Korea Democratic Party, but didn't include any of its members in his cabinet. In retaliation, the members of the party formed a united opposition Democratic Nationalist Party, and began to advocate a cabinet system which would remove power from the president. This led to a regrouping of the Rhee faction into the Nationalist Party, which later became the Liberal Party, and remained Rhee's base throughout his administration. The country's second parliamentary elections were held on May 30, 1950, and gave the majority of seats to independents.

The South Korean government continued many of the practices of the U.S. military government. This included the brutal repression of leftist activity. The Rhee government continued the harsh military action against the Jeju Uprising. It also crushed military uprisings in Suncheon and Yeosu, which were provoked by orders to sail to Jeju and participate in the crackdown.