Rise To Power
On 25 April 1960, Syngman Rhee, the first President of South Korea, was forced out of office following the April 19 Movement, a student-led uprising. A new democratic government took office on August 13, 1960. However this was a short-lived period of parliamentary rule in South Korea. Yun Bo-seon, was a figurehead president, with the real power vested in Prime Minister, Chang Myon. Problems arose immediately because neither man commanded the loyalty from the majority of the Democratic Party or could agree on the composition of the cabinet. Prime Minister Chang attempted to hold the tenuous coalition together by reshuffling cabinet positions three times within five months.
Meanwhile, the new government was caught between an economy that was suffering from a decade of mismanagement and corruption by the Rhee presidency and the students who had led to Rhee's ousting. The students regularly filled the streets, making numerous and wide-ranging demands for political and economic reforms. Law and order could not be maintained because the police, long an instrument of the Rhee government, were demoralized and had been completely discredited by the public. Continued factional wrangling caused the public to turn away from the party.
Read more about this topic: Park Chung-hee
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