President Kim Dae-jung was inaugurated on Feb. 25, 1998,.becoming the first chief of state from the opposition camp in the.nation’s constitutional history. A lifetime opposition leader,.President Kim was also the successor to Kim Young-sam, the first.civilian president after a series of military juntas. It is still too early to decide whether his five years in.office [...]

   President Kim Young-sam was sworn as president on Feb. 25, 1993 amid upbeat public fanfare, being the first civilian president in three decades. Kim began his five-year term with a pledge to engineer sweeping reforms in all sectors of society, particularly stressing the need to cut once and for all traditional collusive links between [...]

SEOUL    President Roh Tae-woo took the oath of office ushering in the Sixth Republic in February 1988. President Roh began his term of office by promising that the authoritarian rule of the past would end and that the June 29 Declaration would continue to be adhered to. Prior to the presidential election of 1987, [...]

   On March 3, 1981, Chun Doo-hwan inaugurated his 7-year presidency as the head of the Fifth Republic, by outlining his policies and programs, pledging to build just society guaranteeing welfare of all citizens-and to create an era of economic progress and social justice. Chun’s ascendance to power, however, was not without its attendant difficulties. [...]

   Yushin System The Fourth Republic was created under the new Constitution named Yushin (revitalizing reform). The Constitution was adopted in a national referendum on Nov. 21, 1972. The reform Constitution drafted by the then martial law government of President Park to institute a tougher ruling structure created a novel form of institution called the [...]

Park’s First and Second Term Despite his public pledge to turn over the power to a civilian government, Park, after retirement from the army, ran in the presidential election on Oct. 5, 1963 and won. It was announced that Park had defeated former President Yun Po-son who ran on the ticket of the Minjung Party, [...]

Democratic Party Government Under the revised Constitution, new elec-tion took place on July 29, 1960 for the fifth National Assembly and the newly created House of Councillors. The Demo-cratic Party which had been in opposition under Syngman Rhee scored a landslide victory in the elections. The Democratic government, led by figurehead President Yun Po-son and [...]

First Elections The elections took place on May 10, 1948 as scheduled. Dur-ing the elections, the Communists used all obstructionist tactics, attacking polling booths and government offices on 348 occasions and killing 47 candidates and election officials. Of the 48 parties and organizations taking part in the elections, the National Council forExpediting Inde-pendence led by [...]

Liberation Korea was liberated from Japanese rule on Aug. 15, 1945, 36 years after Japan forcibly annexed the country in 1910. At the end of World War II, however, the southern half of Korea was occupied by the U.S. forces and the other half by the Soviet Union. Thus, the liberation brought with it a [...]

   Treaty of Annexation The Korean people knew nothing about the signing of the protectorate treaty until the Hwangsong News broke the news. The people were shocked. They joined the nationwide resistance movement, set fire on the new Prime Minister’s home, and closed all stores in Seoul in protest. Some court officials committed suicide. To [...]