The history of South Korea begins with the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945.

[1] At that time, South Korea and North Korea were divided, despite being the same
people and on the same peninsula. In 1950, the Korean War broke out. North Korea
overran South Korea until US-led UN forces intervened. At the end of the war in
1953, the border between South and North remained largely similar. Tensions between
the two sides continued. South Korea alternated between dictatorship and liberal
democracy.It underwent substantial economic development.

Background

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After Japan's defeat in the Pacific War in 1945, the Korean region, which was part
of Japan's territory, was occupied by American and Soviet forces. In 1948, with the
end of the U.S. military government, South Korea declared its independence from
Japan as the Republic of Korea. In 1952, when Japan approved the independence of
the Korean region under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, it became a completely
independent and sovereign nation under international law. The unconditional
surrender of Japan led to the division of Korea into two occupation zones (similar
to the four zones in Germany), with the United States administering the southern
half of the peninsula and the Soviet Union administering the area north of the 38th
parallel. This division was meant to be temporary (as was in Germany) and was first
intended to return a unified Korea back to its people after the United States,
United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China could arrange a single government for the
peninsula.

The two parties were unable to agree on the implementation of a Joint Trusteeship
over Korea because of 2 different opinions.[2] This led in 1948 to the
establishment of two separate governments with the two very opposite ideologies;
the Communist-aligned Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the West-
aligned First Republic of Korea – each claiming to be the legitimate government of
all of Korea. On 25 June 1950, the Korean War broke out. After much destruction,
the war ended on 27 July 1953, with the 1948 status quo being restored, as neither
the DPRK nor the First Republic had succeeded in conquering the other's portion of
the divided Korea. The peninsula was divided by the Korean Demilitarized Zone and
the two separate governments stabilized into the existing political entities of
North and South Korea.

South Korea's subsequent history is marked by alternating periods of democratic and

autocratic rule. Civilian governments are conventionally numbered from the First
Republic of Syngman Rhee to the contemporary Sixth Republic. The First Republic,
arguably democratic at its inception (though preceded by major anti-communist and
anti-socialist purges), became increasingly autocratic until its collapse in 1960.
The Second Republic was strongly democratic but was overthrown in under a year and
replaced by an autocratic military regime. The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Republics
were nominally democratic, but are widely regarded as the continuation of military
rule.[3] With the current Sixth Republic, the country has gradually stabilized into
a liberal democracy.

Since its inception, South Korea has seen substantial development in education,
economy, and culture. Since the 1960s, the nation has developed from one of Asia's
poorest to one of the world's wealthiest nations. Education, particularly at the
tertiary level, has expanded dramatically. It is said to be one of the "Four
Tigers" of rising Asian states along with Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.[4][5]

U.S. military administration (1945–1948)

Main article: United States Army Military Government in Korea
Yeo Woon-Hyung (far right) at the US-Soviet Joint Commission (1947) alt text
Lyuh Woon-hyung (far right) at the US-Soviet Joint Commission [ko] in 1947
Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of the Empire of Japan to the Allied
Powers on 15 August 1945. General Order No. 1 for the surrender of Japan (prepared
by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of U.S. military forces and approved on 17 August
1945) prescribed separate surrender procedures for Japanese forces in Korea north
and south of the 38th parallel. After Japan's surrender to the Allies (formalised
on 2 September 1945), division at the 38th parallel marked the beginning of Soviet
and U.S. occupation of the North and South, respectively. This division was meant
to be temporary, to be replaced by a trusteeship of the United States, United
Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Republic of China which would prepare for Korean
independence. The trusteeship had been discussed at the Yalta Conference in
February 1945.[6][7][8] U.S. forces landed at Incheon on 8 September 1945, and
established a military government shortly thereafter.[9] Lieutenant General John R.
Hodge, their commander, took charge of the government.[10] Faced with mounting
popular discontent, in October 1945 Hodge established the Korean Advisory Council.
The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, which had operated from China,
sent a delegation with three interpreters to Hodge, but he refused to meet with
them.[11] Likewise, Hodge refused to recognize the newly formed People's Republic
of Korea and its People's Committees, and outlawed it on 12 December.[12] A year
later, an interim legislature and interim government were established, headed by
Kim Kyu-shik and Syngman Rhee respectively. Political and economic chaos – arising
from a variety of causes – plagued the country in this period. The after-effects of
the Japanese exploitation remained in the South, as in the North.[13] In addition,
the U.S. military was largely unprepared for the challenge of administering the
country, arriving with little knowledge of the language, culture or political
situation.[14] Thus many of their policies had unintended destabilizing effects.
Waves of refugees from North Korea and returnees from abroad added to the turmoil.
[15]

In December 1945 a conference convened in Moscow to discuss the future of Korea.

[16] A five-year trusteeship was discussed, and a US-Soviet joint commission [ko]
was established. The commission met intermittently in Seoul but deadlocked over the
issue of establishing a national government. In September 1947, with no solution in
sight, the United States submitted the Korean question to the UN General Assembly.
[6][7]

The resolution from the UN General Assembly called for a UN-supervised general
election in Korea, but after the North rejected this proposition, a general
election for a Constitutional Assembly took place in the South only, in May 1948. A
constitution was adopted, setting forth a presidential form of government and
specifying a four-year term for the presidency. According to the provisions of the
Constitution, an indirect presidential election took place in July. Rhee Syngman,
as head of the new assembly, assumed the presidency and proclaimed the Republic of
Korea (South Korea) on 15 August 1948.[17][18][19]

First Republic (1948–1960)

Main article: First Republic of South Korea

Syngman Rhee, the 1st President of South Korea

On 15 August 1948, the Republic of Korea was formally established, with Syngman
Rhee as the first president. With the establishment of Rhee's government, de jure
sovereignty also passed into the new government. On 9 September 1948, a communist
government, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), was proclaimed
under Kim Il Sung.[17][18][19] However, on 12 December 1948, by its resolution 195
in the Third General Assembly, the United Nations recognized the Republic of Korea
as the sole legal government of Korea.[20]

In 1946, the North implemented land reforms by confiscating private property,

Japanese and pro-Japanese owned facilities and factories, and placed them under
state ownership.[17] Demand for land reform in the South grew strong, and it was
eventually enacted in June 1949. Koreans with large landholdings were obliged to
divest most of their land. Approximately 40 percent of total farm households became
small landowners.[21] However, because preemptive rights were given to people who
had ties with landowners before liberation, many pro-Japanese groups obtained or
retained properties.[17]

With the country now divided, the relationship between the two Koreas turned more
antagonistic as time passed. The Soviet forces having withdrawn in 1948, North
Korea pressured the South to expel the United States forces, but Rhee sought to
align his government strongly with America, and against both North Korea and Japan.
[22] Although talks towards normalization of relations with Japan took place, they
achieved little.[23] Meanwhile, the government took in vast sums of American aid,
in amounts sometimes near the total size of the national budget.[24] The
nationalist government also continued many of the practices of the U.S. military
government. In 1948, the Rhee government repressed military uprisings in Jeju,
Suncheon and Yeosu. During the rebellion and its suppression 14,000 to 60,000
people were killed in all fighting.[25][18][26] Of note, President Rhee's regime
was intolerant of opposition. A famous event that highlighted this was the arrest
and conviction of future President Park Chung Hee, for communist conspiracy in
1948.

Inauguration ceremony of the First Republic of South Korea on 15 August 1948

The main policy of the First Republic of South Korea was anti-communism and
"unification by expanding northward". The South's military was neither sufficiently
equipped nor prepared, but the Rhee administration was determined to reunify Korea
by military force with aid from the United States. However, in the second
parliamentary elections held on 30 May 1950, the majority of seats went to
independents who did not endorse this position, confirming the lack of support and
the fragile state of the nation.[18][27][28]

When the communist army attacked from the North in June, retreating South Korean
forces executed tens of thousands suspected communists or sympathisers, either in
prison or in a reeducation movement, in what is known as the Bodo League massacre.
[29]

On 25 June 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea. Led by the U.S., a 16-
member coalition undertook the first collective action under the United Nations
Command (UNC) in defense of South Korea.[30][31][32] Oscillating battle lines
inflicted a high number of civilian casualties and wrought immense destruction.
With the People's Republic of China's entry on behalf of North Korea in late 1950,
the fighting came to a stalemate close to the original line of demarcation.
Armistice negotiations, initiated in July 1951, finally concluded on 27 July
1953[33] at Panmunjom, now in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Following the
armistice, the South Korean government returned to Seoul on the symbolic date of 15
August 1953.[30][34]

After the armistice, South Korea experienced political turmoil under years of
autocratic leadership of Syngman Rhee, which was ended by student revolt in 1960.
Throughout his rule, Rhee sought to take additional steps to cement his control of
government. These began in 1952, when the government was still based in Busan due
to the ongoing war. In May of that year, Rhee pushed through constitutional
amendments which made the presidency a directly-elected position. To do this, he
declared martial law, arrested opposing members of parliament, demonstrators, and
anti-government groups. Rhee was subsequently elected by a wide margin.[35][36][37]

Rhee regained control of parliament in the 1954 election, and thereupon pushed
through an amendment to exempt himself from the eight-year term limit, and was once
again re-elected in 1956.[38] Soon after, Rhee's administration arrested members of
the opposing party and executed the leader after accusing him of being a North
Korean spy.[37][39]

The administration became increasingly repressive while dominating the political

arena, and in 1958, it sought to amend the National Security Law to tighten
government control over all levels of administration, including the local units.
[36] These measures caused much outrage among the people, but despite public
outcry, Rhee's administration rigged the March 1960 presidential election and won
by a landslide.[40]

On that election day, protests by students and citizens against the irregularities
of the election burst out in the city of Masan. Initially these protests were
quelled with force by local police, but when the body of a student was found
floating in the harbor of Masan, the whole country was enraged and protests spread
nationwide.[41][42] On 19 April, students from various universities and schools
rallied and marched in protest in the Seoul streets, in what would be called the
April Revolution. The government declared martial law, called in the army, and
suppressed the crowds with open fire.[41][43][44] Subsequent protests throughout
the country shook the government, and after an escalated protest with university
professors taking to the streets on 25 April, Rhee submitted his official
resignation on 26 April and fled into exile.[45]