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Syngman Rhee | |
|---|---|
| |
 Official portrait, 1948 | |
| 1st President of South Korea | |
| In office 24 July 1948 – 26 April 1960 | |
| Prime Minister | See list
|
| Vice President |
|
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Yun Posun |
| Speaker of the National Assembly | |
| In office 31 May 1948 – 24 July 1948 | |
| Preceded by | Kim Kyu Sik[a] |
| Succeeded by | Shin Ik-hee |
| Chairman of the State Council of the Korean Provisional Government | |
| In office 3 March 1947 – 15 August 1948 | |
| Deputy | Kim Ku |
| Preceded by | Kim Ku |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| President of the Korean Provisional Government | |
| In office 11 September 1919 – 23 March 1925 | |
| Prime Minister |
|
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Park Eunsik |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rhee Syngman 26 March 1875 Nungnae-dong, Taegyong-ri, Masan-myon, Pyongsan County, Hwanghae, Joseon (now Pongchon County, North Korea) |
| Died | 19 July 1965 (aged 90) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Resting place | Seoul National Cemetery |
| Citizenship |
|
| Political party | Liberal (1951–1961) |
| Other political affiliations | National Association (1946–1951) |
| Spouses | |
| Alma mater | |
| Signature |  |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이승만 / 리승만 |
| Hanja | 李承晩 |
| Revised Romanization | I Seungman / Ri Seungman |
| McCune–Reischauer | I Sŭngman / Ri Sŭngman |
| Art name | |
| Hangul | 우남 |
| Hanja | 雩南 |
| Revised Romanization | Unam |
| McCune–Reischauer | Unam |
Syngman Rhee (Korean: 이승만, pronounced [iː.sɯŋ.man];[note 1] 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee is also known by his art name Unam (우남; 雩南).[2] Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea from 1919 to his impeachment in 1925 and from 1947 to 1948. As president of South Korea, Rhee's government was characterised by authoritarianism, limited economic development, and in the late 1950s growing political instability and public opposition.
Born in Hwanghae Province, Joseon, Rhee attended an American Methodist school, where he converted to Christianity. He became a Korean independence activist and was imprisoned for his activities in 1899. After his release in 1904, he moved to the United States, where he obtained degrees from American universities and met President Theodore Roosevelt. After a brief 1910–12 return to Korea, he moved to Hawaii in 1913. In 1919, following the Japanese suppression of the March 1st Movement, Rhee joined the right-leaning Korean Provisional Government in exile in Shanghai. From 1918 to 1924, he served as the first President of the Korean Provisional Government until he was impeached in 1925. He then returned to the United States, where he advocated and fundraised for Korean independence. In 1939, he moved to Washington, DC. In 1945, he was returned to US-controlled Korea by the US military, and on 20 July 1948 he was elected the first president of the Republic of Korea by the National Assembly, ushering in the First Republic of Korea.
As president, Rhee continued his hardline anti-communist and pro-American views that characterized much of his earlier political career. Early on in his presidency, his government put down a communist uprising on Jeju Island, and the Mungyeong and Bodo League massacres were committed against suspected communist sympathisers, leaving at least 100,000 people dead.[3] Rhee was president during the outbreak of the Korean War (1950–1953), in which North Korea invaded South Korea. He refused to sign the armistice agreement that ended the war, wishing to have the peninsula reunited by force.[4][5]
After the fighting ended, South Korea's economy lagged behind North Korea's and was heavily reliant on US aid. After being re-elected in 1956, he pushed to modify the constitution to remove the two-term limit, despite opposition protests. He was reelected uncontested in March 1960, after his opponent Chough Pyung-ok died from cancer before the election took place. After Rhee's ally Lee Ki-poong won the corresponding vice-presidential election by a wide margin, the opposition rejected the result as rigged, which triggered protests. These escalated into the student-led April Revolution, in which police shot demonstrators in Masan. The resulting scandal caused Rhee to resign on 26 April, ushering in the Second Republic of Korea. Despite this, protesters continued to converge on the presidential palace, leading to the CIA covertly evacuating him on 28 April by helicopter. He spent the rest of his life in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, and died of a stroke in 1965.
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- ^ de jure Japanese
- ^ "이승만 (李承晩)". Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ "South Korea owns up to brutal past – World – smh.com.au". www.smh.com.au. 15 November 2008.
- ^ Kollontai, Ms Pauline; Kim, Professor Sebastian C. H.; Hoyland, Revd Greg (2 May 2013). Peace and Reconciliation: In Search of Shared Identity. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-4094-7798-3.
- ^ Cha (2010), p. 174
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