People's Republic of Korea

The People's Republic of Korea () was a short-lived provisional government that was organized at the time of the surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II. It was proclaimed on 6 September 1945, as Korea was being divided into two occupation zones, with the Soviet Union occupying the north and the United States occupying the south. Based on a network of people's committees, it presented a program of democratization of society and the economy.

In the south, the US military government declared the PRK to be illegitimate on 12 December 1945. In the north, under the auspice of the Soviet military government, the Korean Worker's Party led by Kim Il Sung took over the People's Committee by incorporating them into the political structure of the emerging Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and by exerting an ever-increasing direct influence on the agenda and structure of other smaller political parties (such as the KDP and the DIP).

History

Establishment

On 15 August 1945, the Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the Allies and capitulated on 2 September. The Japanese occupational authorities requested that a government be established to ensure the safety of their persons and property after the occupation ended. Whilst the Soviet Union continued to fight the Empire of Japan in Chongjin, , who served as the second-ranking member of the Japanese Government-General sought to secure the safe exit of the Japanese civilians at the request of Nobuyuki Abe. He proposed to Song Jin-woo that he take over the security and administrative rights of Korea, but when this was rejected, he asked to meet Lyuh Woon-hyung in Seoul. Under Lyuh's leadership, the newly formed Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence (CPKI) organized people's committees throughout the country to coordinate the transition to independence. On 28 August 1945 the CPKI announced that it would function as the temporary national government of Korea. On 6 September, CPKI activists met in Seoul and established the PRK.

Security and administrative rights were transferred to Lyuh, and the safety of the Japanese evacuating the Korean Peninsula was guaranteed. Accordingly, Lyuh suggested the following conditions:

Deployment

thumb|right|Associate Chairman [[Lyuh Woon-hyung giving a speech at a YMCA in Gyeongseong (16 August 1945)]]

The PRK has great significance in that it is the first Korean political organization to implement local autonomy, in the form of the people's committees. By the end of August, more than 140 committees were established nationwide in response to the support of the people. Later it was nominally nominate Syngman Rhee as PRK's leader, Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik were also invited to join the cabinet, but all of them refused.

The organizational work of the National Preparatory Committee was also carried out in North Korea. The leader in the North Korean region was Cho Man-sik, a native of Pyongyang, who 'took a non-violent yet uncompromising route' during the Japanese colonial period. Under different regional conditions in the south and north of the Korean Peninsula, Lyuh Woon-hyung and Cho Man-sik simultaneously launched the founding project.

Program

The program of the PRK was presented in its 14 September twenty-seven point program. The program included: "the confiscation without compensation of lands held by the Japanese and collaborators; free distribution of that land to the peasants; rent limits on the nonredistributed land; nationalization of such major industries as mining, transportation, banking, and communication; state supervision of small and mid-sized companies;... guaranteed basic human rights and freedoms, including those of speech, press, assembly, and faith; universal suffrage to adults over the age of eighteen; equality for women; labor law reforms including an eight-hour day, a minimum wage, and prohibition of child labor; and "establishment of close relations with the United States, USSR, United Kingdom, and China, and positive opposition to any foreign influences interfering with the domestic affairs of the state." The motto of the PRK was, accordingly, "Self-reliant and independent state" ().

Developments

Communist takeover in the North

When Soviet troops entered Pyongyang on 24 August 1945, they found a local People's Committee established there, led by veteran Christian nationalist Cho Man-sik. While the Soviet authorities initially recognized and worked with the People's Committees, they made determined efforts to ensure that Koreans friendly to their political interests, especially Korean communists, were placed into positions of power.

By some accounts, Cho Man-sik was the Soviet government's first choice to lead North Korea. The new regime instituted popular policies of land redistribution, industry nationalization, labor law reform, and equality for women.

Suppression in the South

After the American arrival in September 1945, the United States Army Military Government in Korea controlled the peninsula south of the 38th parallel. The military governor Lieutenant-General John R. Hodge refused to recognize the PRK and its People's Committees, which were outlawed on 12 December. He later stated, "one of our missions was to break down this Communist government".

Edgar Snow, an American journalist, returned to Korea after its liberation and stayed for two months to report on the situation:

Some local units of the People's Republic remained active in the Jeolla region  and especially on Jeju Island, where their presence, together with marauding anti-communist youth gangs,

|Vice President

|Lyuh Woon-hyung

|Prime Minister

|Ho Hon

|Minister of Home Affairs

|Kim Ku

|Minister of Foreign Affairs

|Kim Kyu-sik

|Minister of Finance

|Cho Man-sik

|Minister of Military

|Kim Won-bong

|Minister of Economy

|Ha Pilwon

|Minister of Agriculture and Forestry

|Bong Mi-seon

|Minister of Health

|Lee Man-Gyu

|Minister of Transport

|Hong Nam-pyo

|Minister of Security

|Choi Yong-Dal

|Chief Justice

|Kim Byung-ro

|Minister of Education

|Kim Seong-su

|Minister of Propaganda

|Kwan-Sul Lee

|Minister of Communications

|Sin Ik-hui

|Minister of Labor

|Lee Sang-Hyuk

|General Secretary

|Yi Kang-guk

|Minister of Legal Affairs

|Choi Ikhan

|Minister of Planning

|Jeong Baek

References