Sorry I missed the anniversary, but better late than never: yesterday was the 48th anniversary of the 4.19 Revolution of 1960, which brought down Syngman Rhee (이승만) government.

The background to this “revolution” is complex, but it can be simply summarized as the final act of revulsion toward the increasingly autocratic rule of Syngman Rhee’s government. As there was still great admiration for President Rhee, the founder of ROK, much of the ire was directed at his vice president Lee Ki-Boong (이기붕). Lee received nearly 100% of the vote in the fatally flawed election of March 15th earlier that year and was widely disliked for incompetence and corruption.

He was, however, very loyal to President Rhee (Rhee adopted one of Lee’s sons) and was retained by Rhee despite the great unpopularity.

Since the March election, there was much unrest. On April 18th, a group of Korea University (yes, alma mater of the current ROK President Lee Myung-Bak) students demonstrated against the government and was ambushed by gangsters (likely backed by some in the authorities) on their way back home. Dozens were hurt. This outraged the public and even bigger protests mounted the following day, including those by high school students.

And this, on April 19th, is where it all came to a boil. To suppress the demonstrators Lee Ki-Boong authorized the police to fire upon the protestors. Dozens of young students were killed and hundreds were wounded. When journalists questioned the wisdom of this move, Lee brazenly responded “Afterall, we gave guns to the police so they can shoot.”

Despite the deployment of military personnel, artillery and armored vehicles, the demonstrations only became bigger and at times violent against the authorities. Although martial law was declared, some of the officers in charge of administering martial law disobeyed their superiors and began to help the students. The Rhee administration’s grip on power began to crumble.

As the saying goes, the jig was finally up for the administration. Lee Ki-Bung’s family committed mass suicide (apparently his second son, also the adopted son of Syngman Rhee, shot the whole family and then shot himself) on April 26th. The same day, President Rhee announced his resignation and the dissolution of his political party and eventually left for Hawaii on an exile that was to last until his death five years later.

This was a watershed event in modern Korean history. Proponents hailed it as the first case of “people power” in post-World War II Asia, in which mass protest brought down a dictatorship.

Critics note that this led to the short-lived parliamentary republic (the 2nd Republic) of Prime Minister Chang Myun (장면, also John Chang), which was plagued by unrelenting protests. These became so bad that even elementary school students demonstrated against all manners of perceived ills, including transfer of popular teachers. Critics claim that the legacy of 4.19 led to a pervaisive atmosphere of anarchy and paralysis, and was directly responsible for the decision by a clique of military officers to launch the coup of 5.16 in the following year, a “military revolution” that brought General Park Chung-Hee (박정희) to power.

The rest is more history.