South Korea, a country across the sea from our country. Although South Korea and our country do not border on territory, everyone is familiar with this country. But what many people don’t know is that South Korea is only 74 years old, but it has 6 republics. And the shortest time is only 8 months.
The full name of South Korea is the Republic of Korea. The Republic of Korea was officially established on August 15, 1948. The establishment of the Republic of Korea also marked the split of the Korean Peninsula. The Korean Peninsula became a Japanese colony in 1910. Although the people on the peninsula have been resisting the rule of the Japanese invaders, they have not been successful for a long time. After Japan surrendered, the Korean Peninsula was jointly occupied by the United States and the Soviet Union. Later, due to many reasons, two regimes were established on the Korean Peninsula, which are now South Korea and North Korea.
Many people can’t figure it out. The current South Korea is the one established in 1948, and it is a republic. Why is it now and of the Sixth Republic? Let's take a look at the general situation now and we will know after reading the general history of South Korea after its founding.
First look at the First Republic of Korea. On July 17, 1948, South Korea passed the "Constitution of the Republic of Korea". According to this constitution, the Republic of Korea was officially established. This is the First Republic of the Republic of Korea. The emergence of this republic is directly related to Rhee Syngman . Therefore, after the founding of South Korea, Rhee naturally became the first president of South Korea. However, although Syngman Rhee was the first president of South Korea, he did not do well. Not only did the Korean War occur during his reign, but he was also very authoritarian. In order to be re-elected, he destroyed the constitution, suppressed his opponents, and carried out terrorist activities. Finally, in 1960, the April 19th Revolution broke out in South Korea. Syngman Rhee's bloody suppression caused a large number of civilian casualties in South Korea. In the end, Syngman Rhee had to resign, and then went into exile in the United States. He did not return to the country until his death.
Syngman Rhee’s resignation marked the demise of the First Republic of Korea. It can be said that the First Republic was Rhee's republic. After all, Rhee had the final say in this republic. Of all the republics in Korea, I personally feel that the First Republic is the worst. After all, they are politically authoritarian and have made little economic achievements. If you make some achievements financially, everyone can still forgive you.
Secondly, take a look at the Second Republic of Korea. After Syngman Rhee was forced to step down, South Korea re-elected a new government and entered the Second Republic period. The main leaders of the Second Republic were opponents of Syngman Rhee's era and were now in power. It stands to reason that such people should build the country well after taking power. After all, they know South Korea relatively well and are aware of the shortcomings of Syngman Rhee's rule. As long as previous mistakes are corrected, we will definitely win the support of the people. However, what many people did not expect was that after the Second Republic was first established, it split internally.
During the Second Republic, those in power began to fight for power within themselves, and everyone wanted to control the power. In particular, Yin Chushan, who serves as the president, and Zhang Mian, who serves as the prime minister, both want to ignore each other. Under this situation, the internal struggles of the Second Republic became increasingly fierce. At this time, Park Chung-hee , who was a soldier, began to plan a coup. At the end of Syngman Rhee's reign, Park Chung-hee was preparing to launch a coup. As a result, the April 19 Revolution occurred, so it had to be cancelled. After the establishment of the Second Republic, Park Chung-hee still held power. Now coupled with the unstable political situation, it is even more conducive for Park Chung-hee to launch a coup.
On May 16, 1961, Park Chung-hee used the exercise to launch a coup. Success was achieved basically without any resistance. Prime Minister Zhang Mian's rule was overthrown, but President Yin Yushan was just a puppet. Park Chung-hee took power and the Second Republic fell. The Second Republic only existed for a total of 8 months, making it the shortest republic in Korea. If these people weren't busy fighting among themselves, the republic might have survived a little longer.
The third look at the Third Republic of Korea. After Park Chung-hee overthrew the Second Republic, South Korea entered the period of the Third Republic. In the beginning, Park Chung-hee was only pulling the strings behind the scenes, not the president or prime minister.In 1963, when the time came, under the control of Park Chung-hee, South Korea held another election, and Park Chung-hee was successfully elected as the president of South Korea. The Third Republic, like the First Republic, was a one-man government, with power controlled by Park Chung-hee alone. It was an absolute autocratic government. And because Park Chung-hee was born in the military, and soldiers ruled and occupied many positions in the Third Republic, this was an obvious military government. This condition is rare worldwide.
The Third Republic fell in 1972. Although the Third Republic was an authoritarian government, it still had many opponents. By 1971, the opposition party led by Kim Dae-jung won a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections. According to normal procedures, Kim Dae-jung has the strength to pass a bill in the parliament and amend the Korean Constitution. He can even be elected president of the country in the subsequent election. Park Chung-hee responded immediately after seeing this situation. Park Chung-hee's response was simple. He directly dissolved Congress and passed a new constitution, also called "Restoration Constitution" . This constitution changed the way elections were held and extended the presidential term with unlimited re-election. Simply put, this constitution is entirely favorable to Park Chung-hee.
Due to the amendment of the constitution, the Third Republic was officially destroyed. However, it should be noted that Park Chung-hee's rule is authoritarian. But the economic contribution is still huge. During his reign, South Korea's economy began to rise, and the famous Han River miracle occurred. This laid the foundation for South Korea's subsequent development. Without the Miracle of the Han River, there would be no South Korea today.
The fourth look at the Fourth Republic of Korea. The establishment of the Fourth Republic was marked by the adoption of the "Restoration Constitution". According to this constitution, Park Chung-hee later formed a new government agency, and the Fourth Republic was officially established. After the establishment of the Fourth Republic, it was no different from the Third Republic. They were both authoritarian governments. After all, this regime was established autocratically by Park Chung-hee for his own sake. The demise of the Fourth Republic was also directly related to Park Chung-hee.
In 1979, Park Chung-hee was assassinated, and then Prime Minister Choi Kyu-ha succeeded as president. However, Choi Kyu-ha's influence and ability are far inferior to Park Chung-hee. So he cannot control the whole of Korea. Not long after Park Chung-hee's death, Kim Doo-hwan, a former soldier, launched a coup and successfully seized power. The Fourth Republic was officially dead.
In fact, the demise of the Fourth Republic is inevitable. Although Park Chung-hee established the Fourth Republic, opposition voices still existed. And because opposition to Park Chung-hee’s authoritarianism is getting stronger. Therefore, in the later period of Park Chung-hee's rule, there were often large-scale protests. Even if Park Chung-hee is not assassinated, his rule will inevitably be overthrown. Of course, after Park Chung-hee passed away, because of his economic contribution, he was deeply recognized by the Korean people, so South Korea held a state funeral for him. To this day, Park Chung-hee is one of the most influential presidents of South Korea.
Take another look at the Fifth Republic of Korea. After Kim Doo-hwan staged a coup, military dictatorship continued to be implemented in South Korea. Under the control of Kim Doo-hwan, South Korea held a new election, and Kim Doo-hwan was successfully elected as the president of South Korea. After Kim Doo-hwan was elected president, like previous South Korean presidents, he also began to amend the constitution to facilitate his rule. However, Kim Doo-hwan's constitutional amendments are still quite excessive. Kim Doo-hwan extended the presidential term to seven years without the possibility of re-election. This is excessive. A seven-year term is rare in the world. Although he is said not to be re-elected, no one knows what will happen after seven years.
After Kim Doo-hwan came to power, the policies of the Fifth Republic were similar to those before. They continued to implement the policies of the Park Chung-hee era, so the Korean economy continued to develop. However, Kim Doo-hwan and his family have been embezzling continuously, so the opposition is getting louder. In this regard, he is completely different from Park Chung-hee, who has almost no other shortcomings besides being authoritarian. More importantly, after Kim Doo-hwan's term was about to expire, he wanted to amend the constitution again to extend his term. This aroused opposition from many people. Finally, after the term expired in 1987, the presidential power had to be handed over to the next president. In this way, the Fifth Republic was officially destroyed.This republic belongs purely to Kim Doo-hwan.
A final look at the Sixth Republic. After Kim Doo-hwan stepped down, Roh Tae-woo was elected as the President of South Korea. Noh Tae-woo abolished the expression "which republic" and changed it to "XX government". is like this, the way Korea's first republic ended. But the current republic is also called the Sixth Republic. The transfer of power in the Sixth Republic was relatively stable, and most of the transfers were peaceful. Although there have been some autocratic presidents, they are completely incomparable to the previous ones. The current constitution of the Sixth Republic stipulates that the president's term of office is five years and cannot be re-elected. In this case, the possibility of tyranny is even smaller.
This is the general situation of the six republics in South Korea. Although South Korea was not founded long ago, there are still many republics. Moreover, each republic in South Korea has its own constitution. It can be seen that South Korea's constitution is not stable, which is also a big problem. But in any case, no matter which republic it is, it is the current regime of the Republic of Korea. In theory, it is the same strain, and there is no difference. However, no matter which republic South Korea is in, most presidents do not end well.
