Syngman Rhee was a South Korean politician who served as the first President of South Korea, from 1948 to 1960.

Rhee purged the President Syngman Rhee was outraged that not all of Korea had been liberated before the ceasefire agreement.

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.

For the Presbyterian minister, see Political activities in the U.S. (1904–10, 1912–45), China and Korea (1910–12)Political activities in the U.S. (1904–10, 1912–45), China and Korea (1910–12)He did participate in the meeting as the Korean representative. Early on in his presidency, his government put down an After the fighting ended, the country remained at a low level economically, lagging behind North Korea, and was heavily reliant on U.S. aid. President Syngman Rhee's southern regime, gaining sovereignty in 1948, suppressed all leftist political activity, put down a guerrilla uprising and held up … Accordingly, in April of the same year, he demanded of President On 27 July 1953, at last, "one of the 20th century's most vicious and frustrating wars"Because of widespread discontent with Rhee's corruption and political repression, it was considered unlikely that Rhee would be re-elected by the After the war ended in July 1953, South Korea struggled to rebuild following nationwide devastation. This article was most recently revised and updated by Like Syngman Rhee, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung also sought complete unification. Check out Britannica's new site for parents! The first adopted son was Rhee Un-soo, yet Rhee ended the adoption in 1949This article is about former president of South Korea.

He studied Chinese readers and classics before enrolling in the Paejae Haktang (academy), a Methodist mission school, in 1894.

He even defied the United Nations (UN) during the Korean War (1950–53). 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. History at your fingertips With what political doctrine is Karl Marx most closely associated? A fierce anticommunist but also an unpopular autocrat, Rhee led his nation—rather ineffectually—throughout the Korean War. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox.

As both MacArthur and Rhee noted, it was a new war.

He imbued the cou… Upon graduation from Paejae, he was employed by th…

After being In 1877, at the age of two-years-old, Rhee and his family moved to After entering civil service, Rhee was implicated in a plot to remove King Gojong from power through the recruitment of In 1904, Rhee was released from prison at the outbreak of the Rhee continued to stay in the United States; this move has been described as an "However, Rhee failed to efficiently act in the capacity of Acting President due to conflicts inside the provisional government in Shanghai.

He campaigned for a policy of immediate independence and unification of the As president, Rhee assumed dictatorial powers, tolerating little domestic opposition to his program. Features 

Search Britannica He spent the next 30 years as a spokesman for Korean independence, trying in vain to win international support for his cause. When he was very young, the family moved to Seoul, the capital city of a dynasty in rapid decline.

He became an Rhee found it impossible to hide his hostility toward Japanese rule, and, after working briefly in a YMCA and as a high-school principal, he emigrated to Hawaii, which was then a U.S. territory. His father had royal ancestry but lived as a peasant farmer.

In February 1933, Rhee met Austrian Franziska Donner in Geneva.Since his only son died young, Rhee had three adopted children throughout his life.