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Today on the Korean Atlas and History. South Korean Provinces and

Metropolitan Cities. South Korea.

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South Korea, officially known as the Republic of Korea, was founded as the

First Republic, South Korea’s first independent government, on August 15th, 1948.

South Korea shares borders to the north with North Korea, along the Korean

Demilitarized Zone. Both North Korea and South Korea became members of the

United Nations in 1991. Both North Korea and South Korea claim to be the

legitimate government of the entire peninsula and adjacent islands.

Until the Second World War, the two Koreas lived together as a unified state.

In 1910, the Japanese invaded the peninsula and suppressed the Korean people. In

the Second World War, the Allied powers of the Soviet Union and the United States

fought against Japan, and found themselves face to face at the Korean peninsula.

The Northern zone was occupied by the Soviet Union, and the southern zone was

occupied by the United States. By 1948, two separate governments were formed: the

socialist Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the North, and the capitalist

Republic of Korea in the South. In the South, 이승만, an opponent of communism

who was backed by the United States, won the first presidential election of the new
country, in May 1948, beginning the First Republic of South Korea. 이승만 began

repressing political opponents inside South Korea, seeking reunification under his

control. South Korea requested support from the United States, but was denied,

while alternatively, North Korea received support from the Soviet Union. On June 25,

1950, North Korea invaded South Korea starting the Korean War. At this time, the

Soviet Union was boycotting the United Nations, thus forfeiting any veto rights they

held against UN intervention. Thus, the United Nations became involved in trying to

hold the peninsula as a sovereign land under the rule of democracy, while the North

tried to control the peninsula with help from the Soviet Union and China. Over a

period of three years, a civil war raged on the peninsula, until July 27th, 1953, in

which an armistice was signed that returned the boundaries to nearly what they

were at the start of the conflict.

이승만 and his Liberal Party government had been in power in South Korea

throughout the entirety of the war, but his rule had delivered limited economic and

social development in the post-war era. Coupled with his amendments to the

constitution to keep him in power and a reduction of foreign aid from the United

States, domestic discontent plagued South Korea. The 1956 election was plagued

with corruption, and by 1960, protests had begun in the city of Masan. One civilian,

김주율, was found dead in the Masan protests, which lead to further protests in

Seoul. On April 26, 1960, 이승만 stepped down from power and was exiled to
Hawaii. The rule of the Liberal Party government came to an end and South Korea

adopted a parliamentary system to remove power from the office of president.

윤보선 was elected president on August 13, 1960, but the real power was vested in

the prime minister, 창면. This was the start of the Second Republic of South Korea.

On May 16th, 1961, following months of political instability, General 박청희

and his Democratic Republican party launched a coup d’état, which overthrew the

short-lived Second Republic of South Korea and began the Third Republic of South

Korea. 박 was heavily criticized as a ruthless dictator. On November 21st, 1972,

박청희’s government confirmed a new Constitution known as the 유신 Constitution,

which extended his rule by allowing him to run for an unlimited number of six year

terms. This began the Fourth Republic of South Korea. Despite 박청흰’s harsh

authoritarian regime, the Korean economy developed significantly under his tenure.

During the 유신 government, one harsh critic was 김대중, who pointed out the near

dictatorial powers 박청희 held. Another critic was 김영삼, who called for the ending

of U.S. support to the 박 dictatorship. 박 planned to imprison 김, but the Carter

Administration of the United States issued a strong warning to 박 not to persecute

members of the opposition party.

On October 26, 1979, 박청희 was assassinated, and on December 12, 1979,

another coup led by General 정두환 began, starting the Fifth Republic of South

Korea. 전 and his Democratic Justice Party forced the cabinet to expand martial law
to the whole nation, closing universities, banning political activities, and curtailed the

press, along with expelling 김영삼 from the National Assembly and banning him

from politics. Nationwide protests began, particularly in the city of Gwangju. One

major protest, known as the Gwangju Uprising, or the May 18th Democratic Uprising,

ran from May 18th to May 27th, 1980. 초남 University students who were

demonstrating against the martial law government were fired upon, killed, raped,

and beaten by government troops. The violence climaxed on May 21st, when citizens

took up arms by robbing local armories and police stations. Bloody fights broke out

between civilians and militias, but by May 27th, troops had re-taken and subjugated

the civilians.

In 1980, 전두환 had 김대중 arrested on charges of sedition and conspiracy.

김대중 was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to 20 years in

prison after Pope John Paul II sent a letter to 전두환 asking for clemency, and with

intervention by the United States government. 김대중 was later given exile, and

settled in Boston, until returning to South Korea in 1985. 전두화 and his government

held South Korea under despotic rule until 1987, when Seoul National University

student 박종철 was tortured to death, and the incident was revealed to the country,

beginning the June Democracy Movement. The June Democracy Movement was a

group of demonstrations that forced 전두환’s government to hold elections and

other reforms, which led to the end of the Fifth Republic of South Korea.
 In 1987, 노태우, the leader of the Democratic Justice Party, the same party as

전두환, won the presidential election by a narrow margin, beating his opponents,

김대중 and 김영삼, who were both now allowed to participate in elections. 노’s

election began the Sixth Republic of South Korea, which is the current republic

under which the country exists. During 노’s presidency, South Korea hosted the 1988

Olympic games, as well as becoming a member of the United Nations in 1991.

In 1993, 김영삼 was elected president, and had 전두환 and 노태우 arrested

and indicted on charges of corruption and treason for their roles in military coups.

Both were convicted in August 1996. 전 was sentenced to death, 노 was sentenced

to 17 years in prison. 김영삼 also granted amnesty to thousands of political

prisoners, and removed criminal convictions of pro-democracy protesters who had

been arrested during the Gwangju Uprising. 김 also started an anti-corruption

campaign in order to reform the 재벌’s, the large South Korean conglomerates that

dominated the economy. He also advised Bill Clinton not to attack North Korea’s

nuclear program in order to prevent any fighting. In December, 1997, 김영삼, with

advice from 김대중, pardoned and released both 전두환 and 노태우.

Korea moved from what was considered an autocracy to a modern democracy

when 김대중 was elected in 1997. 김대중, the former political prisoner who was

sentenced to death, had now become president against the backdrop of the 1997

Asian Financial Crisis. 김 took IMF advice and restructured the South Korean
economy, recovering its economic growth. 김 also created the “Sunshine Policy” of

engagement with North Korea, and a North-South summit took place in 평양, North

Korea, in 2000. However, because the approaches to North Korea proved fruitless,

in 2007, President 이명박, former president of Seoul and member of the

conservative National Assembly, was elected president.

Although 이 was a conservative president, attacks and tension escalated

between North and South Korea. In March, 2010, the South Korean warship, ROKS

Cheonan was sunk with a loss of 46 South Korean sailors. In November, 2010, 연평

Island was attacked by a North Korean military barrage, with 4 people losing their

lives. The lack of strong response to these attacks stirred the Korean people to

anger, and in 2012, another conservative party member, 박그혜 of the Grand

National Party, was elected president.

박근혜, the daughter of former president and coup leader 박청희, was the first

ever female president to assume office in South Korea. With her close friend 최순실

involved in state affairs, her administration was formally accused of corruption,

bribery, and influence-peddling. This was followed by a series of massive public

demonstrations, and she was removed from office in November 2016. She is

currently sentenced to 24 years in prison.

 On May 10th, 2017, 문재인 assumed office as president. So far, he has

improved relationships with North Korea and successfully hosted the 2017/2018

Winter Olympics in 평창.

Nowadays, a joke is circulating around South Korea that “All the presidents go

to jail.” This couldn’t ring more true when 이명박 was detained on March 22nd, 2018,

on charges of receiving 11 billion Korean won, or about ten million US dollars in

bribes, as well as slush funds worth 35 billion won or approximately 33 million US

dollars. He faced other charges as well, and on October 5th, 2018, he was convicted

on charges of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power. He was sentenced to 15

years in prison and order to pay a 13 billion won, or 11.5 million dollar fine.

The geography of South Korea is mountainous flanked by the Yellow Sea to

the west and the Sea of Japan, or East Sea as Koreans call it, to the east. The highest

point is Mount Hallasan on Jeju Island, standing at 1,950 meters, or 6,400 feet above

sea level. The longest river is the 낙동 river at 510 kilometers.

South Korea’s administrative divisions are organized into eight provinces, one

special self-governing province, six metropolitan cities, one special city, and one

metropolitan autonomous city.

 The eight provinces include 경기도, 강원도, 충청북도, 충청남도, 전라북도,

전라남도, 경상북도, and 경상남도. The special self-governing province is

제주특별자치도. The six metropolitan cities include 부산광역시, 대구광역시,

이천광역시, 광주광역시, 대전광역시, and 울산광역시. The special city is 서울특별시

and the metropolitan autonomous city is 세종특별자치시.

South Korea has been titled the “Land of Morning Calm” because of its

spellbinding natural beauty of picturesque high mountains, clear waters, and

splendid tranquility. This tranquility is most clearly seen in the morning, as the sun

rises over the beautiful land.

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Thank You for listening to this episode of the Korean Atlas and History. Most

of today’s information was taken from the 나무 Wiki and Wikipedia. All of our

episodes can be found and downloaded from koreanatlasandhistory.com. Thank you

for listening and we’ll see you next time.