Editing Syngman Rhee (section)

=== Political repression ===
[[File:Prisoners on ground before execution,Taejon, South Korea.jpg|thumb|Prisoners lie on the ground before execution by South Korean troops near Daejon, South Korea, July 1950. Photo by US Army Maj. Abbott.<ref name="apphoto">{{cite news |url= http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/10/korea-bloodbath-probe-ends-us-escapes-much-blame/ |title=Korea bloodbath probe ends; US escapes much blame |agency=[[Associated Press]] |work=San Diego Union Tribune |author=Charles J. Hanley & Hyung-Jin Kim | date =July 10, 2010 |access-date=May 23, 2011}}</ref>]]
[[File:South Korean soldiers walk among dead political prisoners, Taejon, South Korea.jpg|thumb|South Korean soldiers walk among bodies of South Korean political prisoners shot near Daejon, South Korea, July 1950. Photo by US Army Major Abbott.<ref name="apphoto" />]]
Soon after taking office, Rhee enacted laws that severely curtailed political dissent. There was much controversy between Rhee and his leftist opponents. Allegedly, many of the leftist opponents were arrested and in some cases killed. The most controversial issue has been Kim Ku's assassination. On 26 June 1949, Kim Ku was assassinated by [[Ahn Doo-hee]], who confessed that he had been acting on the orders of [[Kim Chang-ryong]]. Ahn Doo-hee was described by the British historian Max Hastings as one of Rhee's "creatures".<ref>Hastings (1988), p. 42</ref> It soon became apparent that Rhee's style of government was rigidly authoritarian.<ref name="Tirman, John 2011 93–95">{{cite book|author=Tirman, John|title=The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America's Wars|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-538121-4 |pages=93–95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2bC5Bsc1NEQC&pg=PA93}}</ref> He allowed the internal security force (headed by his right-hand man, Kim Chang-ryong) to detain and torture suspected communists and North Korean agents. His government also oversaw several massacres, including the suppression of the [[Jeju uprising]] on [[Jeju Island]], of which South Korea's Truth Commission reported 14,373 victims, 86% at the hands of the security forces and 13.9% at the hands of communist rebels,<ref name="jeju43">{{cite web|year = 2008|url = http://www.jeju43.go.kr/english/sub05.html|title = The National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident|access-date = 15 December 2008|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090224221736/http://www.jeju43.go.kr/english/sub05.html|archive-date = 24 February 2009|df = mdy-all}}</ref> and the [[Mungyeong Massacre]].

By early 1950, Rhee had about 30,000 alleged communists in his jails, and had about 300,000 suspected sympathizers enrolled in an official "re-education" movement called the [[Bodo League]]. When the North Korean army attacked in June, retreating [[South Korean Army|South Korean forces]] executed the prisoners, along with several tens of thousands of Bodo League members.<ref name="smh.com.au">{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/south-korea-owns-up-to-brutal-past/2008/11/14/1226318928410.html|title=South Korea owns up to brutal past – World – smh.com.au|website=www.smh.com.au|date=15 November 2008}}</ref>