The People's Republic of Korea (PRK; ) was a short-lived
provisional government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...
that was organized at the time of the
surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. It was proclaimed on 6 September 1945, as Korea was being
divided into two occupation zones, with the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
occupying the
north
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
occupying the
south
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
. Based on a network of
people's committees, it presented a program of
democratization of society and the economy.
In the south, the
US military government declared the PRK to be illegitimate on 12 December 1945. In the north, under the auspice of the
Soviet military government, the
Korean Worker's Party led by
Kim Il-sung took over the
People's Committee by incorporating them into the political structure of the emerging
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), and by exerting an ever-increasing direct influence on the agenda and structure of other smaller political parties (such as the
KDP and the
DIP).
History
Establishment
On 15 August 1945, the
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
formally surrendered to the
Allies and capitulated on 2 September. The
Japanese occupational authorities requested that a government be established to ensure the safety of their persons and property after the occupation ended. Whilst the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
continued to fight the Empire of Japan in
Chongjin, , who served as the second-ranking member of the
Japanese Government-General sought to secure the safe exit of the Japanese civilians at the request of
Nobuyuki Abe.
He proposed to
Song Jin-woo that he take over the security and administrative rights of Korea, but when this was rejected, he asked to meet
Lyuh Woon-hyung in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
. Under Lyuh's leadership, the newly formed Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence (CPKI) organized people's committees throughout the country to coordinate the transition to independence. On 28 August 1945 the CPKI announced that it would function as the temporary national government of Korea. On 6 September, CPKI activists met in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
and established the PRK.
Security and administrative rights were transferred to Lyuh, and the safety of the Japanese evacuating the Korean Peninsula was guaranteed. Accordingly, Lyuh suggested the following conditions:
* Immediate release of
political prisoners and economic prisoners across the country.
* Secure food for three months in August, September and October.
* Don't interfere with political activities.
* Don't interfere with the education of students and youth.
* Don't interfere with the mobilization of workers and peasants into
workers' councils
A workers' council, also called labour council, is a type of council in a workplace or a locality made up of workers or of temporary and instantly revocable delegates elected by the workers in a locality's workplaces. In such a system of poli ...
.
Accordingly, the Governor-General's Deputy Prime Minister accepted the terms. That night, Lyuh Woon-hyung launched the National Preparatory Committee, basing its structure on the Founding Alliance, an underground secret independence movement that he had formed a year before in August 1944. Subsequently, Lyuh released all the political prisoners in
Seodaemun Prison. Two days after the founding of the National Preparatory Committee was established, a systematic organizational network was established, expanded and reorganized. Lyuh was elected chairman and
An Jae-hong as Vice-chairman, who made the following declaration:
Deployment
The PRK has great significance in that it is the first Korean political organization to implement local autonomy, in the form of the
people's committees. By the end of August, more than 140 committees were established nationwide in response to the support of the people.
Later it was nominally nominate
Syngman Rhee as PRK's leader,
Kim Ku and
Kim Kyu-sik were also invited to join the cabinet, but all of them refused.
The organizational work of the National Preparatory Committee was also carried out in North Korea. The leader in the North Korean region was
Cho Man-sik, a native of Pyongyang, who 'took a non-violent yet uncompromising route' during the Japanese colonial period. Under different regional conditions in the south and north of the
Korean Peninsula
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...
, Lyuh Woon-hyung and Cho Man-sik simultaneously launched the founding project.
The organization had different names and differences in composition, depending on whether it was led by
communists
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
or
nationalists. It also provided a foundation for the construction of a new nation as a 'people's self-governing organization', created by both nationalists and socialists who had been engaged in the independence movement during the Japanese colonial period.
Seo Joong-seok, a professor of history at
Sungkyunkwan University, said, 'If there was no organization like the people's committees after liberation, there would have been great confusion. This is because major independence movement groups, including the
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, were far abroad. However, before the liberation, the founding alliance was organized mainly by domestic groups, who were able to voluntarily perform major tasks such as security and administration.'
Program
The program of the PRK was presented in its 14 September twenty-seven point program. The program included: "the confiscation without compensation of lands held by the Japanese and collaborators; free distribution of that land to the peasants; rent limits on the nonredistributed land; nationalization of such major industries as mining, transportation, banking, and communication; state supervision of small and mid-sized companies;... guaranteed basic human rights and freedoms, including those of speech, press, assembly, and faith; universal suffrage to adults over the age of eighteen; equality for women; labor law reforms including an
eight-hour day, a minimum wage, and prohibition of child labor; and "establishment of close relations with the United States, USSR, United Kingdom, and China, and positive opposition to any foreign influences interfering with the domestic affairs of the state." The motto of the PRK was, accordingly, "Self-reliant and independent state" ().
Developments
Communist takeover in the North
When Soviet troops entered Pyongyang on 24 August 1945, they found a local People's Committee established there, led by veteran Christian nationalist
Cho Man-sik. While the Soviet authorities initially recognized and worked with the People's Committees, they made determined efforts to ensure that Koreans friendly to their political interests, especially Korean communists, were placed into positions of power.
Immediately after entering Korea, Soviet officials set about shifting the political center of the Peoples' Committees to pro-Soviet leanings, and installed a number of Korean communists into the Peoples' Committees until eventually they formed the majority in these organizations.
By some accounts, Cho Man-sik was the Soviet government's first choice to lead North Korea.
However in December 1945, at the
Moscow Conference, the Soviet Union agreed to a US proposal for a
trusteeship over Korea for up to five years in the lead-up to independence. Most Koreans demanded independence immediately, which included
Cho Man-sik, who opposed the proposal at a public meeting on 4 January 1946. Afterwards, he disappeared into house arrest.
He was replaced by Kim Il Sung, who alongside most of the Koreans Communists had supported the trusteeship under pressure from the Soviet government. On 8 February 1946, the People's Committees were reorganized as Interim People's Committees dominated by Communists. The new regime instituted popular policies of land redistribution, industry nationalization, labor law reform, and equality for women.
Meanwhile, existing Communist groups were reconstituted as the
Workers' Party of Korea
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is ...
under Kim Il Sung's leadership.
After the failure of negotiations for unification, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed on 9 September 1948, with Kim Il Sung as premier.
Suppression in the South
After the American arrival in September 1945, the
United States Army Military Government in Korea controlled the peninsula south of the 38th parallel. The military governor Lieutenant-General
John R. Hodge refused to recognize the PRK and its People's Committees, which were outlawed on 12 December. He later stated, "one of our missions was to break down this Communist government".
On 19 July 1947,
Lyuh Woon-hyung was assassinated by Han Ji-geun, a member of the far-right
White Shirts Society.
Edgar Snow, an American journalist, returned to Korea after its liberation and stayed for two months to report on the situation:
Some local units of the People's Republic remained active in the
Jeolla region and especially on
Jeju Island
Jeju Island (Jeju language, Jeju/) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province.
The i ...
, where their presence, together with marauding anti-communist youth gangs,
contributed to tensions that exploded in the events known as
Jeju uprising of 1948–1949.
Countrywide
Early November saw the creation of the
National Council of Korean Labor Unions (NCKLU) and its endorsement of PRK and its program. December saw the creation of the
National League of Peasant Unions, the
Korean Democratic Youth League, and the
Women's League, and their support of the PRK.
Central People's Committee
See also
*
Division of Korea
The division of Korea began at the end of World War II on 2 September 1945, with the establishment of a Soviet occupation zone and a US occupation zone. These zones developed into separate governments, named the Democratic People's Republic of ...
*
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
References
{{coord missing, Korea
Allied occupation of Korea
1945 in North Korea
1946 in North Korea
1945 in South Korea
1946 in South Korea
Korean independence movement organizations
Political history of Korea
Korea, People's Republic of
Decolonization of Korea
Socialism in Korea