Syngman Rhee

Korean politician. 1st to 3rd president. His pen name was Yunnan. He was born in Pyeongsan County, Hwanghae Province, to a distinguished family related to the Yi Dynasty. After studying Chinese classics at a school, he received a modern education at Pai Chai Academy in 1894 and became an English teacher. After 1896, he participated in the Independence Association movement and was imprisoned in 1898. He was released in 1904 and traveled to the United States. He studied at the University of Washington and Harvard University, and received his doctorate from Princeton University. He returned to Korea in 1910 and engaged in a Christian youth movement, but was persecuted and returned to the United States. He then engaged in the independence movement, based in Washington and Hawaii. In 1919, he was recommended as Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea established in Shanghai, and subsequently became President. He opened the Provisional Government's European and American Affairs Department in Washington. He was soon dismissed as President for his arbitrary actions and financial irregularities, but during the war, he was involved in diplomacy with Europe and the United States as Chairman of the European and American Affairs Department. After liberation, he returned to Korea in October 1945 and, as a leading anti-communist right-winger, opposed the trusteeship proposal and launched a movement to promote independence. In 1946, he became the speaker of the Democratic Assembly, and, going against the wishes of the American occupying forces, he aimed to seize power by eliminating and eliminating his major political opponents one after another. Taking advantage of the momentum of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, he became the speaker of the Constitutional Assembly in 1948, and became the first president when the United Nations held a single election for South Korea. After that, he sowed the seeds of the Korean War by calling for the "Northern Expedition and Unification," declared the "Syngman Rhee Line" in 1952 to exclude Japanese fishing, and opposed the armistice negotiations in 1953 and released anti-communist prisoners of war, pursuing a self-righteous anti-communist and anti-Japanese policy. In an attempt to secure the presidential post permanently, he repeatedly forced through constitutional amendments, and in the 1960 election, he carried out extremely rigged elections to win four terms. However, due to an uprising by students infuriated by this injustice (the April Student Revolution), he resigned without taking office and went into exile in Hawaii, where he died in 1965 at the age of 90.

[Momo Tamaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

韓国（大韓民国）の政治家。第1～3代大統領。号は雲南。黄海道平山郡で李王家に連なる名家に生まれる。書堂で漢学を学んだのち、1894年培材学堂で近代教育を受け英語教師となる。1896年以後、独立協会の運動に参加し、1898年投獄される。1904年釈放されて渡米。ワシントン大学、ハーバード大学に学び、プリンストン大学から博士号を受けた。1910年帰国しキリスト教青年運動に従事したが弾圧され再渡米。以後、ワシントン、ハワイを拠点に独立運動を行う。1919年上海(シャンハイ)に設立された大韓民国臨時政府の国務総理に推され、ついで大統領に就任。ワシントンに臨時政府欧米委員部を開設した。まもなく独断行為や財政不明朗により大統領を罷免されたが、戦時中、欧米委員部委員長として対欧米外交にあたった。解放後、1945年10月に帰国するや反共右派の巨頭として信託統治案に反対、独立促成運動を展開。1946年民主議院議長となり、アメリカ占領軍の意向にも反しながら、有力政敵を次々にけ落とし抹殺して、権力掌握を目ざした。米ソ冷戦の機運に乗じて、1948年制憲国会議長となり、国連の南朝鮮単独選挙実施により初代大統領に就任。以後「北伐統一」を呼号して朝鮮戦争の火種をまき、1952年には「李承晩ライン」を宣言して日本漁業を締め出し、1953年の休戦交渉に反対して反共捕虜を釈放するなど、独善的な反共・反日路線を展開。また、大統領ポストを永続的に確保しようと、再三にわたり憲法改正を強行し、1960年選挙では極端な不正選挙を実施して4選をかちとった。しかし、この不正に憤激した学生の決起（四月学生革命）により、未就任のまま下野し、ハワイに亡命、1965年90歳で死去した。

［玉城　素］

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