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South Korea THE SYNGMAN RHEE ERA, 1946-60
The Political Environment
Even though Syngman Rhee had been handily elected president
by the National Assembly in 1948--with 180 of the 196 votes cast
in his favor--he quickly ran into difficulties. South Korean
politics during Rhee's regime (1948-60) essentially revolved
around Rhee's struggle to remain in power and the opposition's
efforts to unseat him. Constitutional provisions concerning the
presidency became the focal point.
Because Rhee's four-year term of office was to end in August
1952 under the 1948 constitution, and because he had no prospect
of being reelected by the National Assembly, he supported a
constitutional amendment, introduced in November 1951, to elect
the president by popular vote. The proposal was resoundingly
defeated by a vote of 143 to 19, prompting Rhee to marshal his
supporters into the Liberal Party. Four months later, in April
1952, the opposition introduced another motion calling for a
parliamentary form of government. Rhee declared martial law in
May, rounded up the assembly members by force, and called for
another vote. His constitutional amendment to elect the president
by popular vote was railroaded through, passing with 163 votes of
the 166 assembly members present. In the subsequent popular
election in August, Rhee was reelected by 72 percent of the
voters.
The constitution, however, limited the president to only two
terms. Hence, when the end of Rhee's second term of office
approached, the constitution again was amended (in November 1954)
by the use of fraudulent tactics that allowed Rhee to succeed
himself indefinitely.
In the meantime, South Korea's citizens, particularly the
urban masses, had become more politically conscious. The press
frequently exposed government ineptitude and corruption and
attacked Rhee's authoritarian rule. The Democratic Party
capitalized on these particulars; in the May 1956 presidential
election, Rhee won only 55 percent of the votes, even though his
principal opponent, Sin Ik-hui, had died of a heart attack ten
days before the election. Rhee's running mate, Yi Ki-bung, fared
much worse, losing to the Democratic Party candidate, Chang Myon
(John M. Chang). Since Rhee was already eighty-one years old in
1956, Chang's victory caused a major tremor among Rhee's
supporters.
Thereafter, the issue of Rhee's age and the goal of electing
Yi Ki-bung became an obsession. The administration became
increasingly repressive as Liberal Party leaders came to dominate
the political arena, including government operations, around
1958. Formerly Rhee's personal secretary, Yi and his wife (Mrs.
Rhee's confidant, and a power-behind-the-scenes) had convinced
the childless Rhee to adopt their son as his legal heir. For fear
that Rhee's health might be impaired, he was carefully shielded
from all information that might upset him. Thus, the aged and
secluded president became a captive of the system he had built,
rather than its master.
In March 1960, the Liberal Party managed to reelect Rhee and
to elect Yi Ki-bung vice president by the blatant use of force.
Rhee was reelected by default because his principal opponent had
died while receiving medical treatment in the United States just
before the election. As for Yi, he was largely confined to his
sickbed--a cause of public anger--but "won" 8.3 million votes as
against 1.8 million votes for Chang Myon. The fraudulent election
touched off civil disorders, known and celebrated as the April 19
Student Revolution, during which 142 students were killed by the
police. As a result, Rhee resigned on April 26, 1960. The next
day all four members of the Yi family died in a suicide pact.
This account has been challenged by some who believed Yi's family
was killed by his bodyguards in hopes of enabling Rhee to stay
on.
Rhee, a self-righteous man convinced of his indispensability
to Korea, loathed his critics and opponents and equated criticism
with treason. Although his record as a national hero and his
skill in handling United States-Korean relations won him
admiration during the immediate years after the Korean War,
Rhee became a captive of the people surrounding him. In the late
1950s, his policies were largely without results as rapid changes
in the economy and society deeply affected South Korea's system.
Data as of June 1990
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