South Korean Constitutional Assembly election, 1948

Voting in the election

South Korea
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of South Korea
Constitution
Government President (list) Park Geun-hye Prime Minister (list) Hwang Kyo-ahn Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyoung-hwan Hwang Woo-yea State Council
National Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee List of members
Judiciary Constitutional Court Supreme Court Chief Justice: Yang Sung-tae
Elections National Election Commission Recent elections Presidential: 2002 2007 2012 Legislative: 2008 2012 2016 Local: 2006 2010 2014 By-elections: 2011 Political parties Saenuri Minjoo Justice
Related topics Korean reunification Sunshine Policy Administrative divisions Human rights Foreign relations
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

Constitutional Assembly elections were held in South Korea on 10 May 1948, the country's first election after the Japanese colonization (1910-1945). It was held under the American military occupation, with supervision from the United Nations. It resulted in a victory for the National Alliance for the Rapid Realisation of Korean Independence, which won 55 of the 200 seats, although 85 were held by independents. Voter turnout was 95.5%.^[1]

Background

This election is a significant milestone in Korean political history. Prior to this election the Korean people had not known written constitutional rule; the very foundation of South Korean politics were still under construction and were unstable.^[2] The Korean peninsula had not yet established a fully functioning democratic republic, this was the first step in that direction. This election would lead to a constitution,roughly based off the constitution of the United States of America; and bring with it the modern democratic state like that of the countries of the U.N.^[3] This election did not come without controversy. In 1948, the subject of an election of any kind in South Korea was an issue worldwide. On March 8 and 9 1948, U.N. delegates from Australia, Canada, India, and Syria expressed their doubts and some complete rejection to the election on May 10, 1948 for South Korea.^[4] The U.N. delegates were concerned of Korea's political maturity at the time, feeling that the election might not validly express the popular will after only being an independent country for four years.^[5] There were even Korean politicians, such as Kim Koo and Kim Kyu-sik, who denounced the election as it would dash the hopes of reunification with North Korea.^[6] However, with the voting out come from The South Korean Interim Legislature a 40 to 0 in favor of the election on March 10, there was little reason to postpone or do away with the election at that time.^[7] Controversy within the peninsula itself against the election were just as negative. The election was originally intended to be held throughout the Korean peninsula, but Soviet Union forces and Kim Il-sung refused the UN superviors entry into North Korea for the election. It was therefore held only in the US-administered territory, making this election a purely South Korean election. Because of the segregation for this election, Kim Koo and Kim Kyu-sik, denounced the election as it would dash the hopes of reunification with North Korea.^[6] However the elections did go forward regardless of the doubts placed upon it. The voters elected members of parliament, who then voted on the constitution and elected the president. at the proceedings, they left one hundred seats open in the South Korean Parliament for North Koreans to vote on when they were able.^[8]

Results

The elections were marred by terrorism resulting in 600 deaths between March and May.^[9] In April, North Korea, supposedly in an effort to delay the elections, sponsored a unity conference in Pyongyang to promote reunification of the two Koreas. Both Kim Koo and Kim Kyu-sik attended the conference. The conference was inconclusive towards any upcoming reunification, and the conference did not delay the elections on May 10 of that year.^[10] Not all South Koreans supported the elections either, as stated before that Kim Koo and Kim Kyu-sik were against it from the beginning. and eventually both boycotted the elections.^[11] The people of Jeju island, Jeju island people, saw the election as a unilateral attempt of the United States military government under the flag of United Nations to separate a southern regime and to employ its first president Syngman Rhee,^[12][13] but police fired and killed Jeju demonstrators.^[12] Then April 3 uprising occurred, tens of thousands of Jeju people were killed by South Korean officials and right wings.^[12] Though these elections were not intended to be separate elections from the North Korean republic, and regardless of the negativity from the U.N. and the Korean public, or the bloodshed discontent that resulted from these elections, it is still the first time in Korean history that the citizens were allowed to vote for a national legislative body,^[14] for prior to 1945 the Korean peninsula had been under Japanese colonial rule for thirty-five years (1910–1945), and for thousands of years before Japanese rule, the peninsula was governed by the (Yi Dynasty) Korean royal family and scholarly officials.

See also

• List of members of the South Korean Constituent Assembly, 1948–1950
• North Korean local elections, 1946
• North Korean local elections, 1947
• People's Republic of Korea

References

External links

• Media related to Republic of Korea's Constituencies Assembly elections, 1948 at Wikimedia Commons

Elections and referendums in South Korea Presidential elections 1948 1952 1956 1960 (Mar) 1960 (Aug) 1963 1967 1971 1972 1978 1979 1980 1981 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 Legislative elections 1948 1950 1954 1958 1960 1963 1967 1971 1973 1978 1981 1985 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Local elections 1952 1956 1960 1991 1995 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 By-elections 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Referendums 1962 1969 1972 1975 1980 1987