Kim Gu (An Alternate East Asia)

Kim Gu (김구; 金九; Kim Koo or Kim Ku  Korean pronunciation:  [kimɡu]; also known by his pen name Baekbeom (백범; 白凡; [pɛkpʌm]), August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1962) was a Korean statesman, enlightenment activist, minister of education, mayor and president. He was the fourth Colonial Governor of Manchuria, the second Minister of Education, the 14th mayor of Seoul, and the third President of Korea, a leader of the opposition to the Grand Nationalist Party where he helped establish the Democratic Party as a head for the advancement of true democracy in Korea.

Kim Gu was President of Korea from 1933 to 1953 winning four consecutive five-year-terms. Having always been very good friends with Emperor Yuljong since 1905, which was 21 years before he became emperor he used his friendship to enact reforms that would still keep the Emperor as an advisor to the people but would help advance democracy in Korea.

During his time as President of Korea, he made rapid economic reforms rapidly directing the country out of the Great Depression which had already severely hurt Korea by the time his presidency started. He would also lead the country through World War II and the Japanese Invasion turning the tide of war against the Japanese and turning Korea into the United States greatest Asian ally becoming a major player in the Allies in World War II. During the post-war years while an increasing of opposition in the Assembly hampered his effectiveness in domestic policy, his effectiveness in foreign policy was not at all diminished, securing Manchuria as its own sovereign nation, becoming one of the six members on the UN Security Council and securing massive reconstruction aid from the United States. While the country did mostly recover from the war by 1952, the economic advancement wasn't enough and his loss in popularity from the stalemate of the Sino-Manchurian War hurt his legacy when he left office. By the time of his death his reputation had been fully rebuilt and he is regarded as the best statesman Korea has ever had. Kim Gu's policy of the New Constitutional Korea, establishing a new constitution increasing the power of the democracy while increasing the legitimacy of the monarchy turning the monarch into a senior policy advisor.

Early Life (1876-1895)
Kim was born on August 29, 1876, in Teot-gol (텃골), Baek-un-bang (백운방), Haeju, South Hwanghae Province, Korea, the only son of a farmer Kim Soon-young (김순영) and his wife Kwak Nack-won (곽낙원). His name at birth was Kim Changahm (김창암; 金昌巖; [kimtɕʰaŋam]). When he was nine years old, he started to study Chinese classic texts such as Zizhi Tongjian, and Great Learning at local seodangs.

Kim was a descendant of Kim Suk-seung, his 31st Great-grandfather, the founder of the Andong Kim clan who are famous for being descendants of King Kyung Soon.[1] Kim's 21st Great-grandfather Kim Sa-hyeong (김사형;金士衡) was one of the meritorious retainer at the founding of the Joseon dynasty. His 11G-grandfather Kim Dae-chung escaped to Hanyang to Haeju and later concealed his identity. Kim Ja-jeom was his 11th Great-grandfather, and Kim Dae-chung's third cousin.

Mayor of Seoul (1926-1932)
Kim Gu was elected the mayor of Seoul in the March 1926 Seoul Mayoral election after being forced to resign as the Minister of Education after proposing not teaching the ideals of Imperialism and Manchurian inferiority in textbooks in November 1925. Kim Gu was only allowed to run in the position of Mayoral of Seoul, Park Eun-sik and Sunjong, who beat him rather severely, gave him the choice of local government or to leave Korean politics altogether. When Sunjong died less than six months later this was one of the very few deaths that Kim Gu was actually relieved by. He thought of Sunjong as a dumb tyrant unworthy of any leadership position.

1932 Presidential Election
Yuljong publicly endorsed his close friend since childhood, then the mayor of Seoul, Kim Gu to run for the Presidency in order to save the country because both men agreed that Yi Dong-nyeong had pretty much put the final death nail in his coffin with his handling of the Japan-Manchurian conflict. Both Yuljong and Kim Gu believed that if the country does not change its political and economic structure than either the country would be swallowed up by an rapidly increasingly imperialistic and militant Japan or the people would overthrow the government in a revolution.

It helped that 1932 was the worst economic peacetime year that Korea had ever seen. In 1932, Korea's GDP shrunk by -11.2% and inflation again decreased to -11.2%, unemployment spiked to 18.7% for the year with urban unemployment at 45%. Exports also dropped by another 53% that year from $129 million to $60 million. The level of industrial production further declined more rapidly than ever with the country only producing 517,000 tons of steel in 1932, down from 2,106,000 tons in 1932. In March, riots broke out all across the country over wage cuts, lack of jobs, food shortages, government corruption and government incompetence. The riots were violently suppressed resulting in 60,000 arrests and 3,000 deaths becoming the final nail in the coffin for the Imperialist government under the Grand Nationalist Party set up by Gojong the Great in 1917. Then on 16 April 1932 legislative elections were held where the Democratic Party, the party of Kim Gu gained 188 seats increasing their hold on The Assembly from 107 seats to 295 seats, the Grand Nationalist Party lost 205 seats (17 to the Workers Party of Korea) going from 294 seats to 89. In the 1932 Presidential Election held on 5 December 1932, Kim Gu won with 65.9% of the vote while Yi Dong-nyeong only got 33.7%, exactly 25% less of the vote than he received in 1927.