Rhee, Syngman (sĭng`mən rē), 1875–1965, Korean statesman, president of the Republic of Korea (1948–60). Early an advocate of Korean independence, he led a demonstration against the Japanese in 1897 and was condemned to life imprisonment but was released (1904) under an amnesty. Rhee went to the United States, where he studied at Harvard and Princeton (Ph.D., 1910), and after returning to Korea went to Hawaii for a time. In 1919 a group of conspirators for Korean independence made him president of a government in exile, and he never ceased working for the cause. After World War II he became a leader in South Korea under the U.S. occupation, and in 1948 he became first president of the Republic of Korea, which claimed the right to rule over all Korea. When, on July 27, 1953, a truce was reached in the Korean War, Rhee maintained that all Korea should be united. Reelected to his fourth term in 1960, Rhee was accused of rigging the election. Student-led demonstrations protesting the election and government corruption soon led to riots and in May, 1960, Rhee was forced out of office and into exile in Hawaii.

Bibliography

See biography by R. C. Allen (1960).

Rhee, Syngman

(born March 26, 1875, Whang-hae, Korea—died July 19, 1965, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) First president of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The first Korean to earn a Ph.D. at a U.S. university (Princeton), he returned to Korea in 1910, the year Japan annexed Korea. Unable to hide his hostility toward Japanese rule, he left again for the U.S. in 1912. For the next 30 years he spoke out for Korean independence; in 1919 he was elected president of a provisional government in exile. As the only Korean leader well known to the U.S., Rhee was returned to Korea ahead of his rivals at the end of World War II; he was elected president of the Republic of Korea in 1948. He held that post until 1960, when opposition to his authoritarian policies (which included outlawing the opposition Progressive Party) forced his resignation. He died in exile.