ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

In order to understand the true nature of the Syngman Rhee regime, which assumed the form of a modernized political power, it is necessary to examine not only Syngman Rhee as an individual but also the regime’s inside mechanism which operated as a system based upon the image and existence of an individual named Syngman Rhee. Examined in this article, which employed the above-mentioned perspective, is for example what kind of changes the emblem of Syngman Rhee had gone through, since 1948 and through 1960. And also analyzed in this article, is the nature of the political power that ruled the time, which was displayed through a series of symbol-based politics. The task of presenting and emphasizing Syngman Rhee’s existence and character had continued since the foundation of the South Korean government. Yang Woo-Jung, who was a converted Socialist and also the head of the Yeonhap newspaper company played an important role in that task, by authoring a book called the President Rhee’s Political Idea for Founding of the Nation. Prime minister Lee Bum-Suk wrote the foreword for this book, so we can presume that this book, written by Yang Woo-Jung, indeed reflected the position and opinion held by the ruling power of the time. The ‘Syngman Rhee’ way and position presented here was in fact one of Social democracy, and at this stage Rhee’s way and position even exhibited a certain level of ‘Third world’ quality, which intended to resist and struggle with not only Communism but also Capitalism. Yet, after the so-called ‘Jokchung-gyae’ faction which included Lee Bum-Suk was removed from power, with the cease-fire agreement in 1953, the image of Syngman Rhee changed significantly. Biographies of Syngman Rhee started to be published since 1954, and these biographies all emphasized Syngman Rhee’s pro-U.S. nature, while downsizing his Nationalist nature. Also, in order to present Syngman Rhee to the public in literally very visible terms, the government’s efforts continued. We can see that from the fact that the government issued orders to create portraits of Syngman Rhee everywhere in the country. And in 1955, in commemoration of Syngman Rhee’s 80th birthday, a large celebration ceremony was arranged, and the project of erecting Syngman Rhee’s statue was promoted there as well. In the latter half period of the 1950s, Syngman Rhee became almost a mythicized figure. As we can see from descriptions referring to him such as ‘the Korean Christ sent from God’, Syngman Rhee’s life were being described in religious, Catholic, God-related terms. This kind of mythifying of a person reached its peak right before the presidential election in 1960. Such phenomena was originated out of the Liberal Party’s desperate attempt to have Lee Ki-Poong, who did not have any kind of presentable philosophy whatsoever, elected as vice president to assist Syngman Rhee. As a result, later Syngman Rhee’s statue became a target of rallies during the April 19th revolution. In other words, Syngman Rhee’s image changed again, and became an object to be attacked as well.

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