(1) Birth of the Republic of Korea

On August 15, 1945, Korea's independence was restored.
But before Korea could even take in all the joys of independence, Koreans were confronted with the tragedy of a territorial division. The United States and the Soviet Union, whose roles were decisive in defeating the Japanese forces as members of the Allied Forces, separately occupied the territories south and north of the 38th parallel in Korea for the purpose of disarming the Japanese Army.
Then, the Allied Forces, following the decision of the Three Ministers' Conference in Moscow, planned to place South and North Korea under the Trusteeship of the United Nations for the next five years.

The U.S. and the Soviet Union proposed setting up a U.S.-Soviet Joint Commitee Conference in Seoul for the purpose of placing Korea under the trusteeship of the U.N. The Koreans vehemently objected to the plan of placing Korea under the U.S.-Soviet Trusteeship. Many social organizations as well as political parties arranged their own program to establish a new Korean nation. In South Korea, where political freedoms were secured, confrontations between the forces of the right and the left were acute.
Within this whirlpool, the U.S.-Soviet Joint Commitee Conference broke down. The U.S. presented the matters of Korea to the United Nations, upon which the United Nations made a proposal for a general election to be held in Korea and a unified independent government be set up. However, North Korea, which was under the control of the Soviet Army, rejected the activities of the U.N. Korean Provisional Commitee and thus the general election took place only in South Korea.
The result of this election was the establishment of a new state standing for free democracy and capitalism in South Korea on August 15, 1948. This is today's Republic of Korea.

(2) The Tragedy of War

As the Republic of Korea was established in South Korea, North Korea's Kim Il-sung who had already set up a separate government, established a government leading toward communism under the support of the Soviet Union in September 1948. Thus, within three years after casting off the chains of Japanese imperialism, Korea faced its greatest historical tragedy--the division of the nation.

This division of the South and North drove the Korean peninsula into an extreme state of tension. Furthermore, as the world political situation led by the U.S. and Soviet Union rapidly rushed into a cold war structure, the Korean peninsula became a region of instability, not knowing when war might break out. Using this international political situation, North Korea obtained tremendous military aid from the Soviet Union and was soon equipped with a strong military force.
After the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea, communist groups in North Korea attacked various places in South Korea and after it reinforced its military forces, it finally invaded South Korea on 25, 1950. The Republic of Korea's army which was confronted by this unforeseen attack fought courageously with its inferior weaponry. Within three days, enemy forces captured Seoul and the national army was forced to retreat temporarily from the area.
The national army, which was pushed down to the Naktong River, began to march northward again with the aid of the U.N. forces. The United Nations had already branded the North Korean communists as aggressors, and ordered its forces, composed of the armies of the United States, the United Kingdom and 14 other nations, to aid South Korea. With the entry of the UN forces on the South Korean side, the tables were turned again. As the national army and the UN forces drove the enemy to the Amnok (Yalu) River, it seemed that hopes for unification would be realized. However, the Chinese Communist Army joined forces with North Korea and launched a massive counter attack on the south, the country entered a new phase in what was to be a long, protracted war. Finally, after three years of intense fighting, the UN forces accepted the Soviet Union's proposal for a cease-fire and an Armistice Agreement reached on July 27, 1953.
The Korean War left a deep scar on Korea. There were millions of human casualties during the war. Countless homes and factories were destroyed. Moreover, due to the war, mistrust between North and South Korea deepened.

(3) Tests of Political Development

With the armistice, the Republic of Korea attempted to reconstruct its devestated lands. The U.S. and other free nations supported Korea's efforts. And Korea and the U.S. concluded a mutual defense treaty in order to prepare against any aggressions.
The disasters of war were for the most part, finally overcome in the last 10 years due to the enthusiastic participation of the people. However, ROK's first President. Rhee Syng-man exercised dictatorial rule and because of his tight grip on power, free democracy was impossible. The Liberal Party led by Rhee Syng-man amended the Constitution as they pleased, in order to extend their political power. Government corruption was so great that the people's complaints could no longer be suppressed. Thus, the Liberal Party government finally crumbled with the April Revolution (April 19, 1960) of students and citizens (April 26,1960).
After the April Revolution but before the newly formed Democratic Party government could take control of the political situation, a group of soldiers under the command of General Park Chung-hee carried out a coup d' tat and established a military government on May 16, 1961. They soon organized the Democratic Republican Party, revised the constitution with a president-centered system and formed a new government.
Under the slogan of "Modernization of Korea", the ruling Republican Party under President Park Chung-hee launched the Saemaul Movement and pushed for economic development policies. The policies received strong support and cooperation from the people and as a result, the standard of living rose to the level of semi-developed countries. President Park, in order to maintain long-term political power, amended the Constitution and enforced the October Restoration (Yusin) System to construct a one-man dictatorship structure in 1972.

With the strengthening of the Yusin System, the resistance movement for democracy expanded. In this state of affairs, President Park was assassinated and in order to cope with the political unrest, another group of soldiers loyal to General Chun Doo-hwan made their advance into politics. They formed the Democratic Justice Party and promulgated a revised Constitution and set forth a new government. The efforts of people, who demanded political democracy, continued to cast bright prospects for the realization of a completely free country. This has been urged on for the past 50 years since Korea's restoration.

(4) Progress in North-South Dialogues

The Korean War has separated the two Koreas for 50 years. It seems this gulf cannot be bridged. But a truly meaningful national happiness cannot be enjoyed without the peaceful reunification of North and South Korea. For this reason, proposals for a peaceful democratic unification of the North and South have been cautiously sought between the divided country.
In that sense, the North-South communique announced on July 4, 1972 was seen as dramatic progress toward reunification. In this communique, the North and South Korean authorities declared national unity transcending structural or ideological differences. Each has set up concrete programs to realize this vision. As a step toward this, the North-South regulation commissions installed a direct telephone line and shared a number of dialogues between Seoul and P'yong'yang.
But these dialogues have been unilaterally cut off by the North on the pretext of domestic political change. However, efforts by both sides to reopen these dialogues continue and have resulted in limited reunions between separated families and art performance troupes in 1985.
It would be difficult for North and South Korea to achieve peaceful unification at this very moment. However, recognizing that only a peaceful reunification can guarantee a happy life for Koreans, the two sides should not be closed to continuing dialogues and abandoning the mutual distrust which exists between the North and South.