Rhee Syng-man

Syngman Rhee was a South Korean politician and dictator 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 Korea from 1919 to his impeachment in 1925 and from 1947 to 1948. As President of South Korea, Rhee's government was characterised by authoritarianism, limited economic development, and by the late 1950s growing political instability and public opposition. He imbued the country with a tradition of authoritarian rule that lasted, with a few short breaks, until 1988.