Editing Syngman Rhee (section)

== Legacy ==
[[File:100 hwan coin obverse.jpeg|thumb|Rhee depicted on a 1959-issued 100 [[South Korean hwan|hwan]] coin]]

Rhee's former Seoul residence, [[Ihwajang]], is currently used for the presidential memorial museum. The Woo-Nam Presidential Preservation Foundation has been set up to honor his legacy. There is also a memorial museum located in Hwajinpo near Kim Il Sung's cottage.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Rhee imbued South Korea with a legacy of authoritarian rule that lasted with only a few short breaks until 1988. One of those breaks came when the country adopted a parliamentary system with a figurehead president in response to Rhee's abuses. This [[Second Republic of South Korea|Second Republic]] would only last a year before being overthrown in a [[1961 South Korean coup d'état|1961 military coup]]. In spite of this, however, the ensuing president [[Park Chung Hee]] expressed criticism of Rhee's regime, in particular for its lack of focus on economic and industrial development. Beginning with the Park era, the standing of Rhee and his "diplomatic" faction of the Korean independence movement fell in the public consciousness in favor of Kim Ku and [[An Jung-geun|Ahn Jung-geun]], who embodied the "armed resistance" faction of the right-wing independence movement, who were preferred by Park; Kim's son [[Kim Shin (general)|Kim Shin]] and Ahn's nephew {{ill|Ahn Chun-saeng|ko|안춘생}} both cooperated with the Park regimes of the [[Third Republic of Korea|Third]] and [[Fourth Republic of Korea|Fourth Republic]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baek |first=Seung-dae |date=14 September 2014 |script-title=ko:박정희가 띄운 김구, 어떻게 진보의 아이콘 됐나 |url=https://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/View/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0002030031 |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=[[OhmyNews]] |language=ko}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|reason=See unreliable sources list on [[WP:KO/RS]]|date=November 2024}}

Rhee began to be reevaluated after democratization in 1987, and in particular came to be associated with the so-called [[New Right (South Korea)|New Right]] movement, some members of which have argued that Rhee's achievements have been wrongly undervalued, and that he should be viewed positively as the [[Father of the Nation|founding father]] of the Republic of Korea.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Eun-woo |date=12 September 2023 |title=South Koreans Are Locked in a Battle Over Historical Interpretations |url=https://thediplomat.com/2023/09/south-koreans-are-locked-in-a-battle-over-historical-interpretations/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |website=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]] |language=en-US}}</ref> An early and prominent example of such literature was Volume 2 of ''Re-Understanding the History of Pre- and Post-Liberation'' ({{Korean|hangul=해방 전후사의 재인식|labels=no}}), published in 2006 by various "New Right" scholars. This academic dispute formed one of the germs behind the later [[Korean history textbook controversies|history textbook controversies]] in the country.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In any event, this view has not spread much beyond the right-wing, with a 2023 [[Gallup Korea]] survey finding that only 30% of respondents saying that Rhee "did many good things", versus 40% who thought that he "did many wrong things" and 30% who had no opinion or didn't respond. Moreover, only about half of [[People Power Party (South Korea)|conservative party]] supporters, as well as half of self-described [[Conservatism in South Korea|conservatives]], gave the first response.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 November 2023 |script-title=ko:데일리 오피니언 제567호(2023년 11월 5주) - 역대 대통령 10인 개별 공과(功過) 평가 (11월 통합 포함) |url=https://www.gallup.co.kr/gallupdb/reportContent.asp?seqNo=1437 |access-date=5 February 2024 |website=[[Gallup Korea]]}}</ref>

=== In popular culture ===
* Portrayed by Lee Chang-hwan in the 1991–1992 [[Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation|MBC]] TV series ''[[Eyes of Dawn]]''.
* Portrayed by Kwon Sung-deok in the 2006 [[KBS1]] TV series ''[[Seoul 1945]]''.
* In the ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' episode titled "Mail Call, Again", Radar mentions a parade in Seoul due to Syngman Rhee being "elected dictator again."<ref>{{cite web|title=M*A*S*H s04e14 Episode Script G518 - Mail Call, Again|url=https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=mash&episode=s04e14|website=springfieldspringfield.co.uk|date=2014|access-date=18 March 2023}}</ref>
* Rhee is referenced in the lyrics to singer [[Billy Joel]]'s 1989 music single, "[[We Didn't Start the Fire]]".<ref>[https://www.billyjoel.com/song/we-didnt-start-fire-11/ We Didn't Start the Fire]. BillyJoel.com. Retrieved 25 September 2016.</ref>
* Rhee is mentioned in Philip Roth's ''[[I Married a Communist]]''.
* Rhee's new documentary film, ''The Birth of Korea'' ({{Korean|hangul=건국전쟁|labels=no}}) was released in 2024, to re-establish his legacy and works.
* Season 3 of the [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] podcast ''[[Blowback (podcast)|Blowback]]'' released in 2022 includes details about Rhee's rule, particularly his role as it related to U.S. Cold War foreign policy.