Elections to the Interim Legislative Assembly were held in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in October 1946.

Background

The establishment of the

South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

was announced by Archer L. Lerch of the United States Army Military Government on 1 July 1946.Jinwung Kim (2012) ''A History of Korea: From "Land of the Morning Calm" to States in Conflict'', Indiana University Press, p375 The Assembly was to replace the Democratic Council set up in February, and its purpose was to write draft laws,South Korea Under United States Occupation, 1945-48

Library of Congress Country Studies The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the United States Library of Congress, freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them. Therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain a ...

It would have 90 members; 45 elected and 45 appointed by Military Governor

John R. Hodge General John Reed Hodge (June 12, 1893 – November 12, 1963) was a highly decorated senior officer of the United States Army. His final assignment before retiring was as Chief of Army Field Forces from 1952 to 1953. Early life and career Born ...

Campaign

The Interim Legislative Assembly was unpopular with a majority of Koreans who opposed the planned four-power trusteeship to run the country for five years. The conservative

Korea Democratic Party The Korea Democratic Party (, KDP) was the leading opposition party in the first years of the First Republic of Korea. It existed from 1945 to 1949, when it merged with other opposition parties. The U.S. military government has defined the ...

(KDP) opposed its existence due to many of its leaders being excluded. However, the party did participate in the elections, unlike the left-wing parties, which simply ignored it; the Communists,

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...

and

Kim Koo Kim Gu (, ; August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), also known by his pen name Baekbeom (백범; ), was a Korean statesman. He was the sixth, ninth, and president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea; a leader of the Korean indepen ...

all boycotted the elections.Choong Soon Kim & Sŏng-su Kim (1998) ''A Korean Nationalist Entrepreneur: A Life History of Kim Songsu, 1891–1955'', SUNY Press, p138 In September 1946, thousands of laborers and peasants rose up against the military government. This uprising was quickly defeated, and failed to prevent the elections.

Results

Several KDP leaders were elected in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, but

Kim Kyu-sik Kim Kyu-sik, also spelled Kimm Kiusic (Korean language, Korean:김규식, Hanja:金奎植, January 29, 1881 – December 10, 1950), was a Korean politician and academic during the Korean independence movement and a leader of the Provisional Go ...

claimed that there had been

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

in Seoul and

Gangwon Gangwon or Kangwŏn may refer to: * Gangwon Province (historical), the Goryeo, Joseon Dynasty and the Japanese Korean province * Gangwon Province (South Korea), a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Kore ...

. As a result, Hodge annulled the results and the elections were re-run in the two areas. The majority of those elected were supporters of Rhee. Of the appointed members, one was from the KDP, one from National Society for the Rapid Realisation of Korean Independence and the remaining 43 were "moderates", including several former members of the

Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea The Korean Provisional Government (KPG), formally the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, was a partially recognized Korean government-in-exile based in Shanghai, China, and later in Chongqing, during the period of Japanese c ...

Aftermath

The opening of the Assembly was delayed to 12 December to investigate widespread allegations of electoral fraud.Kim, p620

References

{{South Korean elections Legislative elections in South Korea 1946 in South Korea

Provisional governments

Background

Campaign

Results

Aftermath

See also

References