Yun Po-sun was born in Dunpo-myeon,Asan,South Chungcheong Province in 1897. He was a son of Yun Chi-so (윤치소, 尹致昭, 1871–1944) and Lady Yi Beom-suk (이범숙, 李範淑, 1876–1969). Yun Chiso is the second son ofYun Yeong-ryeol (윤영렬;尹英烈). Yun Yeong-ryeol is an 8th generation descendant of the prominentJoseon scholar-officialYun Tusu. Yun studied in theUnited Kingdom, graduating with aMaster of Arts from theUniversity of Edinburgh in 1930. He returned to Korea in 1932.
Yun entered politics in 1945 followingGwangbokjeol (Liberation Day). The firstDoctor of Philosophy from Princeton University in Korea, as well as first President of South Korea, Dr.Syngman Rhee, was hismentor. By 1947, Yun was serving as Secretary to the Korean Chief of Staff. In 1948, Rhee appointed Yun to the position of mayor ofSeoul. A year later, he was made Minister of Commerce and Industry. However, Yun soon began to disagree with Rhee's authoritarian policies.
While serving as president of theRed Cross Society, he was elected to theNational Assembly in 1954. A year later, he co-founded the opposition South Korean Democratic Party. In 1959, he became a representative to the Supreme Council of the Democratic Party.
Rhee's government was ousted by a student-led, pro-democracyuprising in 1960; and Yun was elected president by the newly elected parliament on August 13, withChang Myon as prime minister. In the aftermath of the authoritarian excesses of Rhee's regime, South Korea had switched to aparliamentary system; thus, Yun served merely as a ceremonial president.
FollowingPark Chung Hee'scoup in 1961, Yun stayed in his post in order to provide some legitimacy to thenew regime, but resigned on 24 March 1962. In the following years, Yun received suspended sentences several times for anti-government activities. He opposed Park's authoritarian rule[1] and ran for president twice, in1963 and1967, losing both times.
^Mobius, J. Mark (1966). "The Japan-Korea Normalization Process and Korean Anti-Americanism".Asian Survey.6 (4):241–248.doi:10.2307/2642122.JSTOR2642122.
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