Born inHwanghae Province, Joseon, Rhee attended an AmericanMethodist school, where heconverted to Christianity. He became aKorean independence activist and was imprisoned for his activities in 1899. After his release in 1904, he moved to the United States, where he obtained degrees from American universities andmet PresidentsTheodore Roosevelt andWoodrow Wilson. After a brief 1910–12 return to Korea, he moved toHawaii in 1913. In 1919, following theJapanese suppression of theMarch First Movement, Rhee joined the right-leaning Korean Provisional Government in exile in Shanghai. From 1918 to 1924, he served as the firstPresident of the Korean Provisional Government until he was impeached in 1925. He then returned to the United States, where he advocated and fundraised for Korean independence. In 1939, he moved to Washington, DC. In 1945, he was returned toUS-controlled Korea by the US military, andon July 20, 1948, he was elected the first president of the Republic of Korea by theNational Assembly, ushering in the First Republic of Korea.
As president, Rhee continued his hardlineanti-communist andpro-American views that characterized much of his earlier political career. Early on in his presidency, his government put down theJeju uprising on Jeju Island, and theMungyeong andBodo League massacres were committed against suspectedcommunist sympathisers, leaving at least 100,000 people dead.[2] Rhee was president during the outbreak of theKorean War (1950–1953), in which North Korea invaded South Korea. He refused to signthe armistice agreement that ended the war, wishing to have the peninsula reunited by force.[3][4]
After the fighting ended, South Korea's economy lagged behind North Korea's and was heavily reliant on US aid, despite successful efforts to battle illiteracy. After beingre-elected in 1956, he pushed to modify the constitution to remove the two-term limit, despite opposition protests. He was reelected uncontestedin March 1960, after his opponentChough Pyung-ok died from cancer before the election took place. After Rhee's allyLee Ki-poong won the corresponding vice-presidential election by a wide margin, the opposition rejected the result as rigged, which triggered protests. These escalated into the student-ledApril Revolution, in which police shot demonstrators inMasan. The resulting scandal caused Rhee to resign on 26 April, ushering in theSecond Republic of Korea. Despite this, protesters continued to converge on thepresidential palace, leading to theCIA covertly evacuating him on 28 April by helicopter. He spent the rest of his life in exile inHonolulu, Hawaii, and died of a stroke in 1965.
Syngman Rhee was born on 26 March 1875 as Rhee Syng man in Daegyeong, a village inPyeongsan County,Hwanghae Province,Joseon.[5][6][7][8] Rhee was the third but only surviving son out of three brothers and two sisters (his two older brothers both died in infancy) in a rural family of modest means.[5] Rhee's family traced its lineage back to KingTaejong of Joseon. He was a 16th-generation descendant ofGrand Prince Yangnyeong through his second son, Yi Heun who was known as Jangpyeong Dojeong (장평도정;長平都正).[9] This case makes him a distant relative of the mid-Joseon military officer,Yi Sun-sin (not be confused with AdmiralYi Sun-sin). His mother was a member ofGimhae Kim clan.
In 1877, at the age of two, Rhee and his family moved toSeoul, where he had traditionalConfucian education in variousseodang in Nakdong (낙동;駱洞) and Dodong (도동;桃洞).[10] When Rhee was six years old asmallpox infection rendered him virtually blind until he was treated with western medicine, possibly by a Japanese doctor.[11] Rhee was portrayed as a potential candidate for thegwageo, the traditional Koreancivil service examination, but in 1894 reforms abolished thegwageo system, and in April he enrolled in thePaechae School [ko] (배재학당;培材學堂), an AmericanMethodist school, where he converted to Christianity.[5][7][8][12] Rhee studied English andsinhakmun (신학문;新學問;lit. new subjects). Near the end of 1895, he joined a Hyeopseong (Mutual Friendship) Club (협성회;協成會) created bySeo Jae-pil, who returned from the United States after his exile following theGapsin Coup. He worked as the head and the main writer of the newspapersHyŏpsŏnghoe Hoebo [ko] andMaeil Sinmun [ko],[10] the latter being the first daily newspaper in Korea.[12] During this period, Rhee earned money by teaching the Korean language to Americans. In 1895, Rhee graduated from Pai Chai School.[5]
Rhee became involved inanti-Japanese circles after the end of theFirst Sino-Japanese War in 1895, which saw Joseon passed from theChinesesphere of influence to theJapanese. Rhee was implicated in a plot to take revenge for theassassination of Empress Myeongseong, the wife ofKing Gojong who was assassinated by Japanese agents (known in Korean history as theChunsaengmun incident [ko]); however, a female American physician Georgiana E. Whiting helped him avoid the charges by disguising him as her patient and go to his sister's house. Rhee acted as one of the forerunners of theKorean independence movement through grassroots organizations such as the Hyeopseong Club and theIndependence Club. Rhee organized several protests against corruption and the influences of the Japan and theRussian Empire.[12] As a result, in November 1898, Rhee attained the rank ofUigwan (의관;議官) in the Imperial Legislature, the Jungchuwon (중추원;中樞院).[10]
After entering civil service, Rhee was implicated in a plot to remove King Gojong from power through the recruitment ofPak Yŏnghyo. As a result, Rhee was imprisoned in the Gyeongmucheong Prison (경무청;警務廳) in January 1899.[10] Other sources place the year arrested as 1897 and 1898.[5][7][8][12] Rhee attempted to escape on the 20th day of imprisonment but was caught and was sentenced to life imprisonment through the Pyeongniwon (평리원;平理院). He was imprisoned in the Hanseong Prison (한성감옥서;漢城監獄署). In prison, Rhee translated and compiledThe Sino–Japanese War Record (청일전기;淸日戰紀), wroteThe Spirit of Independence (독립정신;獨立精神), compiled theNew English–Korean Dictionary (신영한사전;新英韓辭典) and wrote in theImperial Newspaper (제국신문;帝國新聞).[10] He was alsotortured.[12] Examples of this included Japanese officers lighting oil paper which were pushed up his fingernails, and then smashing them one-by-one.[13]
In 1904, Rhee was released from prison at the outbreak of theRusso-Japanese War with the help ofMin Young-hwan.[5] In November 1904, with the help of Min Yeong-hwan and Han Gyu-seol (한규설;韓圭卨), Rhee moved to the United States. In August 1905, Rhee and Yun Byeong-gu (윤병구;尹炳求)[10] met with US PresidentTheodore Roosevelt atpeace talks inPortsmouth, New Hampshire and attempted unsuccessfully to convince the US to help preserve independence for Korea.[14]
Rhee continued to stay in the United States; this move has been described as an "exile".[12] He obtained a Bachelor of Arts fromGeorge Washington University in 1907, and a Master of Arts fromHarvard University in 1908.[5][9] In 1910,[5] he obtained a PhD fromPrinceton University[7][8] with the thesis "Neutrality as influenced by the United States" (미국의 영향하에 발달된 국제법상 중립).[10]
In August 1910, Rhee returned toJapanese-occupied Korea.[10][c] He served as aYMCA coordinator and missionary.[15][16] In 1912, Rhee was implicated in the105-Man Incident,[10] and was shortly arrested.[5] However, he fled to the United States in 1912[7] with M. C. Harris's rationale that Rhee was going to participate in the general meeting of Methodists inMinneapolis as the Korean representative.[10][d]
In the United States, Rhee attempted to convinceWoodrow Wilson to help the people involved in the 105-Man Incident, but failed to bring any change. Soon afterwards, he metPark Yong-man, who was in Nebraska at the time. In February 1913, as a consequence of the meeting, he moved toHonolulu, Hawaii, and took over the Han-in Jung-ang Academy (한인중앙학원;韓人中央學園).[10] In Hawaii, he began to publish thePacific Ocean Magazine (태평양잡지;太平洋雜誌).[5] In 1918, he established the Han-in Christian Church (한인기독교회;韓人基督敎會). During this period, he opposed Park Yong-man's stance on foreign relations of Korea and brought about a split in the community.[10] In December 1918, he was chosen, along with Dr. Henry Chung DeYoung, as a Korean representative to theParis Peace Conference in 1919 by theKorean National Association but they failed to obtain permission to travel to Paris. After giving up travelling to Paris, Rhee held theFirst Korean Congress inPhiladelphia withSeo Jae-pil to make plans for future political activism concerning Korean independence.[10]
Following theMarch First Movement in March 1919, Rhee discovered that he was appointed to the positions of foreign minister for theKorean National Assembly [ko] (a group inVladivostok), prime minister for theProvisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai, and a position equivalent to president for theHanseong Provisional Government [ko]. In June, in the acting capacity of the President of the Republic of Korea, he notified the prime ministers and the chairmen of peace conferences of Korea's independence. On 25 August, Rhee established the Korean Commission to America and Europe (구미위원부;歐美委員部) in Washington, DC. On 6 September, Rhee discovered that he had been appointed acting president for the Provisional Government in Shanghai.[7][8] From December 1920 to May 1921, he moved to Shanghai and was the acting president for the Provisional Government.[10]
However, Rhee failed to efficiently act in the capacity of Acting President due to conflicts inside the provisional government in Shanghai. In October 1920, he returned to the US to participate in theWashington Naval Conference. During the conference, he attempted to set the problem of Korean independence as part of the agenda and campaigned for independence but was unsuccessful.[5][10] In September 1922, he returned to Hawaii to focus on publication, education, and religion. In November 1924, Rhee was appointed the position ofpresident for life in the Korean Comrade Society (대한인동지회;大韓人同志會).[10]
In March 1925, Rhee was impeached as the president of the Provisional Government in Shanghai over allegations of misuse of power[17] and was removed from office. Nevertheless, he continued to claim the position of president by referring to the Hanseong Provisional Government and continued independence activities through the Korean Commission to America and Europe. In the beginning of 1933, he participated in theLeague of Nations conference inGeneva to bring up the question of Korean independence.[10]
In November 1939, Rhee and his wife left Hawaii for Washington, DC.[18] He focused on writing the bookJapan Inside Out and published it during the summer of 1941. With theattack on Pearl Harbor and the consequentPacific War, which began in December 1941, Rhee used his position as the chairman of the foreign relations department of the provisional government inChongqing to convince PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and theUnited States Department of State to approve the existence of the Korean provisional government. As part of this plan, he cooperated with anti-Japan strategies conducted by the USOffice of Strategic Services (OSS). In 1945, he participated in theUnited Nations Conference on International Organization as the leader of the Korean representatives to request the participation of the Korean provisional government.[10]
Rhee and American generalDouglas MacArthur at the ceremony inaugurating the government of South KoreaCeremony inaugurating the government of the Republic of Korea (15 August 1948) at theGovernor-General Building in Seoul.
After thesurrender of Japan on 2 September 1945,[19] Rhee was flown to Tokyo aboard a US military aircraft.[20] Over the objections of the Department of State, the US military government allowed Rhee to return to Korea by providing him with a passport in October 1945, despite the refusal of the Department of State to issue Rhee with a passport.[21] The British historianMax Hastings wrote that there was "at least a measure of corruption in the transaction" as the OSS agentPreston Goodfellow who provided Rhee with the passport that allowed him to return to Korea was apparently promised by Rhee that if he came to power, he would reward Goodfellow with commercial concessions."[21] Following the independence of Korea and a secret meeting withDouglas MacArthur, Rhee was flown in mid-October 1945 to Seoul aboard MacArthur's personal airplane,The Bataan.[20]
After the return to Korea, he assumed the posts of president of the Independence Promotion Central Committee (독립촉성중앙위원회;獨立促成中央協議會), chairman of theKorean People's Representative Democratic Legislature, and president of the Headquarters for Unification (민족통일총본부;民族統一總本部). At this point, he was stronglyanti-communist and opposed foreign intervention; he opposed the Soviet Union and the United States' proposal in the1945 Moscow Conference to establish a trusteeship for Korea and the cooperation between the left-wing (communist) and the right-wing (nationalist) parties. He also refused to join the US-Soviet Joint Commission (미소공동위원회;美蘇共同委員會) as well as the negotiations with the north.[10]
For decades, the Korean independence movement was torn by factionalism and in-fighting, and most of the leaders of the independence movement hated each other as much as they hated the Japanese. Rhee, who had lived for decades in the United States, was a figure known only from afar in Korea, and therefore regarded as a more or less acceptable compromise candidate for the conservative factions. More importantly, Rhee spoke fluent English, whereas none of his rivals did, and therefore he was the Korean politician most trusted and favored by theAmerican occupation government. The British diplomatRoger Makins later recalled, "the American propensity to go for a man rather than a movement —Giraud among the French in 1942,Chiang Kai-shek in China. Americans have always liked the idea of dealing with a foreign leader who can be identified as 'their man'. They are much less comfortable with movements." Makins further added the same was the case with Rhee, as very few Americans were fluent in Korean in the 1940s or knew much about Korea, and it was simply far easier for the American occupation government to deal with Rhee than to try to understand Korea. Rhee was "acerbic, prickly, uncompromising" and was regarded by the US State Department, which long had dealings with him as "a dangerous mischief-maker", but the American GeneralJohn R. Hodge decided that Rhee was the best man for the Americans to back because of his fluent English and his ability to talk with authority to American officers about American subjects. Once it became clear from October 1945 onward that Rhee was the Korean politician most favored by the Americans, other conservative leaders fell in behind him.[citation needed]
When the first US–Soviet Cooperation Committee meeting was concluded without a result, he began to argue in June 1946 that the government of Korea must be established as an independent entity.[10] In the same month, he created a plan based on this idea[5] and moved to Washington, DC, from December 1946 to April 1947 to lobby support for the plan. During the visit,Harry S. Truman's policies ofContainment and theTruman Doctrine, which was announced in March 1947, enforced Rhee's anti-communist ideas.[10]
On 20 July 1948, Rhee was elected president of the Republic of Korea[7][8][24] in the1948 South Korean presidential election with 92.3% of the vote; the second candidate,Kim Ku, received 6.7% of the vote.[25] On 15 August the Republic of Korea was formally established in the south,[24] and Rhee wasinaugurated as its first president.[5][10] The next month, on 9 September, the north also proclaimed statehood as theDemocratic People's Republic of Korea. Rhee's relations with thechinilpa Korean elites who had collaborated with the Japanese were, in the words of the South Korean historian Kyung Moon Hwang, often "contentious", but in the end an understanding was reached in which, in exchange for their support, Rhee would not purge the elites.[26] In particular, the Koreans who had served in the colonial-era National Police, whom the Americans had retained after August 1945, were promised by Rhee that their jobs would not be threatened by him. Upon independence in 1948, 53% of South Korean police officers were men who had served in the National Police during the Japanese occupation.[27]
Prisoners lie on the ground before execution by South Korean troops near Daejon, South Korea, July 1950. Photo by US Army Maj. Abbott.[28]South Korean soldiers walk among bodies of South Korean political prisoners shot near Daejon, South Korea, July 1950. Photo by US Army Major Abbott.[28]
Soon after taking office, Rhee enacted laws that severely curtailed political dissent. There was much controversy between Rhee and his leftist opponents. Allegedly, many of the leftist opponents were arrested and in some cases killed. The most controversial issue has been Kim Ku's assassination. On 26 June 1949, Kim Ku was assassinated byAhn Doo-hee, who confessed that he had been acting on the orders ofKim Chang-ryong. Ahn Doo-hee was described by the British historian Max Hastings as one of Rhee's "creatures".[29] It soon became apparent that Rhee's style of government was rigidly authoritarian.[30] He allowed the internal security force (headed by his right-hand man, Kim Chang-ryong) to detain and torture suspected communists and North Korean agents. His government also oversaw several massacres, including the suppression of theJeju uprising onJeju Island, of which South Korea's Truth Commission reported 14,373 victims, 86% at the hands of the security forces and 13.9% at the hands of communist rebels,[31] and theMungyeong Massacre.
By early 1950, Rhee had about 30,000 alleged communists in his jails, and had about 300,000 suspected sympathizers enrolled in an official "re-education" movement called theBodo League. When the North Korean army attacked in June, retreatingSouth Korean forces executed the prisoners, along with several tens of thousands of Bodo League members.[2]
Both Rhee andKim Il Sung wanted to unite the Korean peninsula under their respective governments, but the United States refused to give South Korea any heavy weapons, to ensure that its military could only be used for preserving internal order and self-defense.[32] By contrast,Pyongyang was well equipped with Soviet aircraft, vehicles and tanks. According to John Merrill, "the war was preceded by a major insurgency in the South and serious clashes along the thirty-eighth parallel," and 100,000 people died in "political disturbances, guerrilla warfare, and border clashes".[33]
At the outbreak of war on 25 June 1950, North Korean troops launched a full-scale invasion of South Korea. All South Korean resistance at the38th parallel was overwhelmed by the North Korean offensive within a few hours. By 26 June, it was apparent that theKorean People's Army (KPA) would occupy Seoul. Rhee stated, "Every Cabinet member, including myself, will protect the government."[34] At midnight on 28 June, the South Korean military destroyed the Han Bridge, preventing thousands of citizens from fleeing. On 28 June, North Korean soldiers occupied Seoul.
During the North Korean occupation of Seoul, Rhee established a temporary government inBusan and created a defensive perimeter along the Naktong Bulge. A series of battles ensued, which would later be known collectively as theBattle of Naktong Bulge. After theBattle of Inchon in September 1950, the North Korean military was routed, and theUnited Nations Command (UNC) and South Korean forces not only liberated all of South Korea, but overran much of North Korea. In the areas of North Korea taken by the UNC forces, elections were supposed to be administered by the United Nations but instead were taken over and administered by the South Koreans. Rhee insisted onBukjin Tongil – ending war by conquering North Korea, but after the Chinese entered the war in November 1950, the UNC forces were thrown into retreat.[3] During this period of crisis, Rhee ordered theDecember massacres of 1950. Rhee was absolutely committed to reunifying Korea under his leadership and strongly supported MacArthur's call for going all-out against China, even at the risk of provoking a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.[35]
Hastings notes that, during the war, Rhee's official salary was equal to$37.50 per month. Both at the time and since, there has been much speculation about precisely how Rhee managed to live on this amount. The entire Rhee regime was notorious for its corruption, with everyone in the government from the President downwards stealing as much they possibly could from both the public purse and from United States aid. The Rhee regime engaged in the "worst excesses of corruption", with South Korean soldiers going unpaid for months as their officers embezzled their pay, equipment provided by the United States being sold on the black market, and the size of the army being bloated by hundreds of thousands of "ghost soldiers" who only existed on paper, allowing their officers to steal pay that would have been due had these soldiers actually existed. The problems with low morale experienced by the army were largely due to the corruption of the Rhee regime. The worst scandal during the war—indeed of the entire Rhee government—was theNational Defense Corps Incident. Rhee created the National Defense Corps in December 1950, intended to be a paramilitary militia, comprising men not in the military or police who were drafted into the corps for internal security duties. In the months that followed, tens of thousands of National Defense Corps men either starved or froze to death in their unheated barracks, as the men lacked winter uniforms and food. Even Rhee could not ignore the deaths of so many and ordered an investigation. It was revealed that the commander of the National Defense Corps, General Kim Yun Gun, had stolen millions of American dollars that were intended to heat the barracks and feed and clothe the men. Kim and five other officers were publicly shot atDaegu on 12 August 1951, following their convictions for corruption.[36]
In the spring of 1951, Rhee—who was upset about MacArthur's dismissal as UNC commander by President Truman—lashed out in a press interview against Britain, whom he blamed for MacArthur's sacking.[37] Rhee declared, "The British troops have outlived their welcome in my country." Shortly after, Rhee told an Australian diplomat about the Australian troops fighting for his country, "They are not wanted here any longer. Tell that to your government. The Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and British troops all represent a government which is now sabotaging the brave American effort to liberate fully and unify my unhappy nation."[37]
During the Korean War armistice negotiations, one of the most contentious issues was the repatriation of prisoners of war (POWs). The United Nations Command advocated for the principle of voluntary repatriation, allowing POWs to choose whether to return to their home countries. In contrast, the communist side insisted on mandatory repatriation, demanding that all POWs be returned regardless of their preferences. This disagreement prolonged the negotiations, and an agreement was only reached on June 8, 1953.However, South Korean President Rhee Syngman strongly opposed the armistice, fearing it would leave South Korea vulnerable to future aggression and believing it failed to ensure the country's long-term security. On June 18, 1953, Rhee unilaterally ordered the release of over 27,000 anti-communist POWs held in camps across South Korea, including those in Busan, Masan, and Daegu. This action shocked the United States, the United Nations, and the communist side, as it was perceived as a direct challenge to the ongoing armistice talks. The release also led to casualties, with dozens of POWs reportedly killed or injured during the process.Rhee's decision to release the POWs is interpreted as serving multiple purposes. Domestically, it was framed as a gesture to grant freedom to anti-communist prisoners who refused to return to their communist home countries. Internationally, it was a bold political maneuver to assert South Korea's agency in the armistice process and to pressure the United States into committing to South Korea's defense. Rhee was deeply dissatisfied with the armistice negotiations being conducted without active participation from the South Korean government. His actions aimed to ensure South Korea's security through the signing of the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty.Although the unilateral release of POWs temporarily disrupted the armistice talks, it ultimately strengthened South Korea's position in post-war negotiations. The Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty was signed shortly after the armistice, guaranteeing U.S. military support for South Korea and solidifying its defense against future aggression.[38][39]
On July 27, 1953, the Korean War, often referred to as "one of the 20th century's most vicious and frustrating wars," ended without a clear victor. The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed by military commanders representing China, North Korea, and the United Nations Command (UNC), led by the United States. However, the Republic of Korea (ROK), under President Syngman Rhee's leadership, refused to sign the agreement. Rhee strongly opposed the armistice, fearing it would cement the division of Korea and leave the South vulnerable to future attacks.Despite intense pressure from the United States and its allies, Rhee remained steadfast in his objections, demanding stronger security guarantees and a commitment to South Korea's defense. Although the armistice succeeded in halting active hostilities, it was not a formal peace treaty. To this day, no peace treaty has been signed, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war. The armistice established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as a buffer between North and South Korea, yet tensions remained high.Rhee's opposition to the armistice was part of his broader geopolitical strategy. He sought to secure a long-term U.S. military presence in South Korea to deter future attacks and to strengthen the South's position in the region. His refusal to endorse the armistice eventually led to the signing of the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty in October 1953, which guaranteed U.S. military support for South Korea and cemented its role as a key ally in East Asia during the Cold War.[40][41][42][43][44][45]
Because of widespread discontent with Rhee's corruption and political repression, it was considered unlikely that Rhee would be re-elected by theNational Assembly. To circumvent this, Rhee attempted to amend the constitution to allow him to hold elections for the presidency by direct popular vote. When the Assembly rejected this amendment, Rhee ordered a mass arrest of opposition politicians and then passed the desired amendment in July 1952. During thefollowing presidential election, he received 74% of the vote.[46]
At the time of its creation in 1948,South Korea was among the poorest countries in the world. Twelve years later, in 1960, it held this position with a per capita income similar to that ofHaiti. Although South Korea was predominantly an agricultural society that had experienced some industrialization during theJapanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945, mainly in the northern provinces, it faced significant challenges.[47]
Thedivision of Korea in 1945 by theSoviet Union and theUnited States resulted in the creation of two states: theDemocratic People's Republic of Korea in the north and theRepublic of Korea in the south. The DPRK inherited most of the industry, mining, and more than 80% of electricity generation. In contrast, the ROK owned the majority of productive agricultural areas, but these were barely enough to feed a densely populated and rapidly growing population.[47]
The period after thewar was marked by a very slow recovery, despite South Korea being one of the largest per capita recipients offoreign aid.[47] The lack of central planning, minimal investment in infrastructure, poor use of aid funds, government corruption, political instability, and the threat of renewed war with the North made the country very unattractive to both domestic and foreign investors. Additionally, the fear of recreating acolonial dependence onJapan prevented Seoul from opening the country to trade and investment with its prosperous neighbor.[47]
After the war ended in July 1953, South Korea struggled to rebuild following nationwide devastation. The country remained at aThird World level of development and was heavily reliant on US aid.[48] Rhee was easily re-elected for what should have been the final timein 1956, since the 1948 constitution limited the president to two consecutive terms. However, soon after being sworn in, he had the legislature amend the constitution to allow the incumbent president to run for an unlimited number of terms, despite protests from the opposition.[49]
In March 1960, the 84-year-old Rhee won his fourth term in office as president. His victory was assured with 100% of the vote after the main opposition candidate,Cho Byeong-ok, died shortly before the 15 March elections.[50][51]
Rhee wanted his protégé,Lee Ki-poong, elected as Vice President—a separate office under Korean law at that time. When Lee, who was running againstChang Myon (the ambassador to the United States during the Korean War, a member from the opposition Democratic Party) won the vote with a wide margin, the opposition Democratic Party claimed the election wasrigged. This triggered anger among segments of the Korean populace on 19 April. When police shot demonstrators inMasan, the student-ledApril Revolution forced Rhee to resign on 26 April.[50]
On 28 April 1960, aDC-4 belonging to the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA), piloted by Captain Harry B. Cockrell Jr. and operated byCivil Air Transport, covertly flew Rhee out of South Korea as protesters converged on theBlue House.[52] During the flight, Rhee andFrancesca Donner, his Austrian wife, went to the cockpit to thank the pilot and crew. Rhee's wife offered the pilot a valuable diamond ring in thanks, which was courteously declined. The former president, his wife, and their adopted son subsequently lived in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii.[53]
Rhee died of stroke complications in Honolulu on 19 July 1965.[54] A week later, his body was returned to Seoul and buried in theSeoul National Cemetery.[55]
Rhee was married to Seungseon Park from 1890 to 1910. Park divorced Rhee shortly after the death of their son Rhee Bong-su in 1908, supposedly because their marriage had no intimacy due to his political activities.[citation needed]
In February 1933, Rhee met AustrianFranziska Donner in Geneva.[56] At the time, Rhee was participating in a League of Nations meeting[56] and Donner was working as an interpreter.[17] In October 1934, they were married[56] in New York City.[17][57] She also acted as his secretary.[56]
Over the years after the death of Bong-su, Rhee adopted three sons. The first was Rhee Un-soo, however, the elder Rhee ended the adoption in 1949.[58] The second adopted son was Lee Kang-seok, eldest son of Lee Ki-poong, who was a descendant ofPrince Hyoryeong[59][60] and therefore a distant cousin of Rhee; but Lee committed suicide in 1960.[61][62] After Rhee was exiled, Rhee In-soo, who is a descendant ofPrince Yangnyeong just like Rhee, was adopted by him as his heir.[63]
Rhee's former Seoul residence,Ihwajang, is currently used for the presidential memorial museum. The Woo-Nam Presidential Preservation Foundation has been set up to honor his legacy. There is also a memorial museum located in Hwajinpo near Kim Il Sung's cottage.[citation needed]
Rhee imbued South Korea with a legacy of authoritarian rule that lasted with only a few short breaks until 1988. One of those breaks came when the country adopted a parliamentary system with a figurehead president in response to Rhee's abuses. ThisSecond Republic would only last a year before being overthrown in a1961 military coup. In spite of this, however, the ensuing presidentPark Chung Hee expressed criticism of Rhee's regime, in particular for its lack of focus on economic and industrial development. Beginning with the Park era, the standing of Rhee and his "diplomatic" faction of the Korean independence movement fell in the public consciousness in favor of Kim Ku andAhn Jung-geun, who embodied the "armed resistance" faction of the right-wing independence movement, who were preferred by Park; Kim's sonKim Shin and Ahn's nephewAhn Chun-saeng [ko] both cooperated with the Park regimes of theThird andFourth Republic.[64][unreliable source?]
Rhee began to be reevaluated after democratization in 1987, and in particular came to be associated with the so-calledNew Right movement, some members of which have argued that Rhee's achievements have been wrongly undervalued, and that he should be viewed positively as thefounding father of the Republic of Korea.[65] An early and prominent example of such literature was Volume 2 ofRe-Understanding the History of Pre- and Post-Liberation (해방 전후사의 재인식), published in 2006 by various "New Right" scholars. This academic dispute formed one of the germs behind the laterhistory textbook controversies in the country.[citation needed]
In any event, this view has not spread much beyond the right-wing, with a 2023Gallup Korea survey finding that only 30% of respondents saying that Rhee "did many good things", versus 40% who thought that he "did many wrong things" and 30% who had no opinion or didn't respond. Moreover, only about half ofconservative party supporters, as well as half of self-describedconservatives, gave the first response.[66]
Rhee's new documentary film,The Birth of Korea (건국전쟁) was released in 2024, to re-establish his legacy and works.
Season 3 of theleft-wing podcastBlowback released in 2022 includes details about Rhee's rule, particularly his role as it related to U.S. Cold War foreign policy.
^abcdef"Syngman Rhee".The Cold War Files. Cold War International History Project. Archived fromthe original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved13 March 2014.
^abCha, Marn J. (19 September 2012) [1996]."Syngman Rhee's First Love"(PDF).The Information Exchange for Korean-American Scholars (IEKAS) (12–19): 2.ISSN1092-6232.Archived(PDF) from the original on 14 March 2014. Retrieved14 March 2014.
^It is sometimes erroneously claimed that Rhee was treated by American medical missionary Horace Allen. For a discussion of this topic see, Fields,Foreign Friends, p. 17–19
^Yu Yeong-ik (유영익) (1996).이승만의 삶과 꿈 [Rhee Syngman's Life and Dream] (in Korean). Seoul:JoongAng Ilbo Press. pp. 40–44.ISBN89-461-0345-0.
^Coppa, Frank J., ed. (2006)."Rhee, Syngman".Encyclopedia of modern dictators: from Napoleon to the present. Peter Lang. p. 256.ISBN978-0-8204-5010-0.
^Jessup, John E. (1998)."Rhee, Syngman".An encyclopedic dictionary of conflict and conflict resolution, 1945–1996. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 626.ISBN978-0-313-28112-9.
^James E. Dillard."Biographies: Syngman Rhee". The Department of Defense 60th Anniversary of Korean War Commemoration Committee. Retrieved on 28 September 2016.
^"KOREA: The Walnut".TIME. 9 March 1953. Archived fromthe original on 18 November 2011. Retrieved20 March 2010.In 1932, while attempting to put Korea's case before an indifferent League of Nations in Geneva, Rhee met Francesca Maria Barbara Donner, 34, the daughter of a family of Viennese iron merchants. Two years later they were married in a Methodist ceremony in New York.
Fields, David.Foreign Friends: Syngman Rhee, American Exceptionalism, and the Division of Korea. University Press of Kentucky, 2019, 264 pages,ISBN978-0813177199.
Lew, Yong Ick.The Making of the First Korean President: Syngman Rhee's Quest for Independence (University of Hawai'i Press; 2013). Scholarly biography; 576 pages.
Italics indicate an acting president • * Impeached, Constitutional Court ruling pending • † Impeached, but restored to office • ‡ Impeached and removed from office
