On April 18, 1960, 3000 #KoreaUniversity students rose against Syngman Rhee – ROK’s 1st post-war dictator – & the Liberal Party’s election rigging. The protest spread to other Seoul universities & Martial Law was proclaimed the next day. Rhee would resign & go into exile on 4.26 pic.twitter.com/V15ZDCaV1G
— Jack Greenberg (그린버그 잭) (@jackwgreenberg) April 18, 2023
What gets me the most about Syngman Rhee is when people say he was a dictator trying to equate him with Kim Il-sung. If he was a dictator why did he pack up and leave instead of disappearing the protesters? That is exactly what a real dictator like Kim Il-sung would have done. Rhee was an authoritarian, not a dictator.
setnaffa
2 years ago
Well said, GI.
Rhee had plenty of areas to criticize; but the leftists always overreach.
Yoon Suck Me
2 years ago
Rhee was an authoritarian, not a dictator
Really? Then what were Park and Chun?
TOK
2 years ago
If he was a dictator why did he pack up and leave instead of disappearing the protesters?
That is exactly what a real dictator like Kim Il-sung would have done. Rhee was an authoritarian, not a dictator.
Well he did use the police and gangsters to go after the protestors.
Not much different from other “dictators.”
Also , previously the ROK Constitution allowed for two four year terms for the presidency.
So for Rhee who was elected on 1948, the maximum period he could hold on to power was up to 1956.
We all know he didn’t and stayed in power until his resignation in 1960 after the 4.19 protests, and that is not much different from Park Chunghee, who was supposed to step down on 1972, but implemented Yushin and stayed on until his assassination.
More commie revisionist history.
What gets me the most about Syngman Rhee is when people say he was a dictator trying to equate him with Kim Il-sung. If he was a dictator why did he pack up and leave instead of disappearing the protesters? That is exactly what a real dictator like Kim Il-sung would have done. Rhee was an authoritarian, not a dictator.
Well said, GI.
Rhee had plenty of areas to criticize; but the leftists always overreach.
Really? Then what were Park and Chun?
Well he did use the police and gangsters to go after the protestors.
Not much different from other “dictators.”
Also , previously the ROK Constitution allowed for two four year terms for the presidency.
So for Rhee who was elected on 1948, the maximum period he could hold on to power was up to 1956.
We all know he didn’t and stayed in power until his resignation in 1960 after the 4.19 protests, and that is not much different from Park Chunghee, who was supposed to step down on 1972, but implemented Yushin and stayed on until his assassination.