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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, Asia, occupies the southern end of the Korean peninsula, bordered by North Korea in the north, and the Sea of Japan, East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea on its coasts. The capital is Seoul. The area of Korea is 38,328 square miles (99,268 square kilometers). The estimated population of South Korea in July, 2004 was 48,598,175. Following its victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan occupied Korea; five years later it formally annexed the entire peninsula. After World War II, a republic was set up in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula while a Communist-style government was installed in the north. During the Korean War (1950-1953), US and other UN forces intervened to defend South Korea from North Korean attacks supported by the Chinese. An armistice was signed in 1953, splitting the peninsula along a demilitarized zone at about the 38th parallel. Thereafter, South Korea achieved rapid economic growth with per capita income rising to roughly 18 times the level of North Korea. South Korea has maintained its commitment to democratize its political processes. In June 2000, a historic first North-South summit took place between the South's President KIM Dae-jung and the North's leader KIM Chong-il. -- The CIA World Factbook: South Korea
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TIME Magazine, March 4, 1946, p. 30: KOREA: Right Way to the Left A dog-eared copy of the one-page North Korea Communist mouthpiece Chawng Lo (Right Way) turned up in the U.S. zone last week. From it, South Koreans, eager for news of their northern countrymen, learned of a two-day meeting in P'yongyang to plan a provisional government for the Soviet-occupied area. The self-government murmurs had strong overtones of the Internationale. Chairman of the conference, Chwang Lo said, was Kim Il Sung, "a 32-year-old hero" who appeared in a Red Army uniform... proudly wearing medals received from the Russian Government." Chwang Lo reported: "All of Kim Il Sung's bills passed unopposed." Delegates had set up an Interim People's Committee and voted a platform which included termination of pro-Japanese and anti-democratic elements, confiscation of land, extermination of imperialistic ideas. "Plans were drafted," Chwang Lo proclaimed, "for the benefit of the human race." In the U.S. zone skeptics called the provisional regime a "Soviet puppet," charged that Kim Il Sung was an imposter trading on the name of a legendary Korean resistance leader... |
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TIME Magazine, December 13, 1954, p. 24: SOUTH KOREA: President for Life Autocratic old Syngman Rhee wants to be President of South Korea for the rest of his life, even though it is unconstitutional. His solution: change the constitution so that the two-term limit would not apply to "the first President of the Republic"-- himself. To pass the amendment, he needed more then a two-thirds majority, or better than 135 2/3 votes out of the 203-man Assembly. But he had only 100 votes. His leaders set to work cultivating opposition Assemblymen with so many favors, Bank of Korea loans and automobiles, that the legislature became known as the "Sedan Assembly." By late summer Rhee's Liberal Party numbered 137, and Rhee looked like a winner. He ordered a vote on a bill amending the constitution in several places. But Rhee's largesse had convinced several balky Assemblymen that in dalliance there was further reward. When the secret vote was counted, Vice Chairman of the Assembly Choi Soon Joo regretfully announced that the proposal had received only 135 votes, just two-thirds of one ballot less than required, "therefore the amendments are defeated." Stunned and angry, Rhee sent for his propaganda chief, who hastily announced: The government feeling is that the fraction must be disregarded and the amendments have therefore been approved." At the next Assembly session, Choi Soon Joo dutifully echoed: "My Saturday announcement was wrong. Today I want to announce that the bill has passed legally." Sixty anti-Rhee assemblymen stormed out of the chamber, crying that the President "has usurped the legislative power." That was just what the President wanted. By a quick show of hands his forces repealed the laws of arithmetic as well as those of Korea, voted that 135 of 203 is indeed two-thirds, and changed the previous minutes to show that the rejected amendments had passed. That night Rhee signed the bill into law, thus becoming eligible for re-election in mid-1956, when he will be 81. |
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