광명천지 / つの偉大な人々の同盟 ("Let the land be enlightened / Alliance of two great peoples") | ||||||||||
| Anthem | "Aegukga" | |||||||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Seoul | |||||||||
| Other cities | Busan | |||||||||
| Language official |
Korean and Japanese | |||||||||
| others | English | |||||||||
| Religion main |
De jure (none), State Shinto (de facto until 1971) | |||||||||
| others | Korean Buddhism and Christinaty | |||||||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Korean | |||||||||
| others | Japanese | |||||||||
| Government | Unitary one-party republic under a totalitarian dictatorship (until 1971) Unitary presidential republic (from 1971) | |||||||||
| Legislature | National Diet | |||||||||
| Population | 31,230,000 (1988) | |||||||||
| Currency | South Korean won | |||||||||
| Internet TLD | .kp (proposed) | |||||||||
South Korea, officially the Japanese State of Korea and later the State of Korea, was a government that controlled the southern half of the Korean peninsula from 1953 to 1988. From 1953 to 1971, South Korea was a one-party state ruled by the Republican Japanese-Korean Cooperative Party, until the party was dissolved following the Peaceful Revolution.
History
Formation
Following the Japanese Civil War, the Japanese government fled to Korea. Korean nationalists overthrew the Royal Family's government and reinstated the Korean monarch, re-creating the Korean Empire on November 16, 1953. Shortly afterward, the remainder of the Imperial Army overthrew the Korean monarch and reinstated Akihito as ruler of Korea on November 29, 1953. To prevent another coup, Nagako signed the Nagako Constitution, the successor to the Meiji Constitution. Korea became a republic independent of Japan, and Nagako forced Akihito to abdicate his throne, bringing the Japanese monarchy to an end. Southern Korea was put under the control of a democratically-elected parliament and prime minister. The new government was taken over by the Republican Japanese-Korean Cooperative Party, which quickly banned other parties from serving in government, creating the Japanese State of Korea on December 1, 1953.
Effort to reunify
Initially, the South Korean government opposed reunification efforts with the North. On May 15, 1971, the Republican Japanese-Korean Cooperative Party was overthrown in the Peaceful Revolution and South Korea held its first election. The term "Japanese" was then removed from the country's official title. The new government was highly supportive of the North, creating the Seoul Pact in 1976. As the two countries drifted closer together, both began to discuss reunification. On January 31, 1988, both nations voted in favor of reunification. On February 12, 1988, both governments finished drafting a constitution, which was ratified five days later. This brought an end to Korea's division, with North Korea absorbing South Korea.