Editing History of South Korea (section)

==U.S. military administration (1945–1948)==
{{Main|United States Army Military Government in Korea}}
[[File:1947 at the Soviet-US Committee.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Yeo Woon-Hyung (far right) at the US-Soviet Joint Commission (1947) alt text|[[Lyuh Woon-hyung]] (far right) at the {{ill|US-Soviet Joint Commission|ko|미소공동위원회}} in 1947]]

Emperor [[Hirohito]] [[Surrender of Japan|announced the surrender]] of the [[Empire of Japan]] to the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Powers]] on 15 August 1945. [[General Order No. 1]] for the surrender of Japan (prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of U.S. military forces and approved on 17 August 1945) prescribed separate surrender procedures for Japanese forces in Korea north and south of the 38th parallel. After [[Japan]]'s surrender to the Allies (formalised on 2 September 1945), division at the [[38th parallel north|38th parallel]] marked the beginning of Soviet and U.S. occupation of the North and South, respectively. This division was meant to be temporary, to be replaced by a trusteeship of the United States, [[United Kingdom]], [[Soviet Union]], and [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] which would prepare for Korean independence.  The trusteeship had been discussed at the [[Yalta Conference]] in February 1945.<ref name="lhh 583-585">Lee Hyun-hee (2005, pp 583–585)</ref><ref name="aks 150-153">The Academy of Korean Studies (2005, pp150-153)</ref><ref>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/yalta.asp Yalta Conference], Lillian Goldman Law Library</ref> U.S. forces landed at [[Incheon]] on 8 September 1945, and established a military government shortly thereafter.<ref>Lee (1984, p.&nbsp;374); Cumings (1997, p.&nbsp;189).</ref> Lieutenant General [[John R. Hodge]], their commander, took charge of the government.<ref>Nahm, Cumings, loc. cit.</ref> Faced with mounting popular discontent, in October 1945 Hodge established the Korean Advisory Council. The [[Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea]], which had operated from China, sent a delegation with three interpreters to Hodge, but he refused to meet with them.<ref name="Hart-Landsberg 1998 71–77">{{cite book |last=Hart-Landsberg |first=Martin |title=Korea: Division, Reunification, & U.S. Foreign Policy |url=https://archive.org/details/korea00mart |url-access=registration |year=1998 |publisher=Monthly Review Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/korea00mart/page/71 71–77]}}</ref> Likewise, Hodge refused to recognize the newly formed [[People's Republic of Korea]] and its People's Committees, and outlawed it on 12 December.<ref>{{cite book| title = The Making of Modern Korea | last = Buzo | first = Adrian | year = 2002| publisher = Routledge|  location = London | isbn = 978-0-415-23749-9 |page=57}}</ref> A year later, an interim legislature and interim government were established, headed by [[Kim Kyu-sik|Kim Kyu-shik]] and [[Syngman Rhee]] respectively. Political and economic chaos – arising from a variety of causes – plagued the country in this period. The after-effects of the Japanese exploitation remained in the South, as in the North.<ref>Nahm (1996, p.&nbsp;351); Lee (1984, p.&nbsp;375).</ref> In addition, the U.S. military was largely unprepared for the challenge of administering the country, arriving with little knowledge of the language, culture or political situation.<ref name="Nahm 1996, p. 340">Nahm (1996, p.&nbsp;340).</ref> Thus many of their policies had unintended destabilizing effects. Waves of refugees from North Korea and returnees from abroad added to the turmoil.<ref>Lee (1984, p.&nbsp;375).</ref>

In December 1945 a conference convened in [[Moscow]] to discuss the future of Korea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decade19.asp|title=Avalon Project – A Decade of American Foreign Policy 1941–1949 – Interim Meeting of Foreign Ministers, Moscow|access-date=24 October 2016}}</ref>
A five-year trusteeship was discussed, and a {{ill|US-Soviet joint commission|ko|미소공동위원회}} was established. The commission met intermittently in [[Seoul]] but deadlocked over the issue of establishing a national government. In September 1947, with no solution in sight, the [[United States]] submitted the Korean question to the [[United Nations General Assembly|UN General Assembly]].<ref name="lhh 583-585"/><ref name="aks 150-153"/>

The resolution from the UN General Assembly called for a UN-supervised general election in Korea, but after the North rejected this proposition, a general election for a Constitutional Assembly took place in the South only, in May 1948.  A constitution was adopted, setting forth a presidential form of government and specifying a four-year term for the presidency. According to the provisions of the Constitution, an indirect presidential election took place in July. Rhee Syngman, as head of the new assembly, assumed the presidency and proclaimed the [[South Korea|Republic of Korea (South Korea)]] on 15 August 1948.<ref name="aks 154-163">The Academy of Korean Studies (2005, pp154-157; pp162-163)</ref><ref name="lhh 584-586">Lee Hyun-hee (2005, pp 584–586)</ref><ref name="sk us 45-48">[http://countrystudies.us/south-korea/9.htm South Korea under US Occupation 1945–1948], Country studies: South Korea</ref>