대한국민당 결성과정과 그 성격: 1948-1950년

Abstract

Rhee, Syngman assumed the first president of Korea upon the establishment of its government but his political base was flimsy. In the National Assembly were some force in favor of South-North negotiation who did not participate in the 5․10 Election, some middle-of-the-roaders, and another force who took part in the foundation of an independent government but had different standpoints about the other issues like the unification or foreign influences from Rhee, Syngman's. Besides, the Korean Democratic Party (hereafter, KDP), which had developed the campaign for the establishment of an independent government hand in hand with Rhee during the U.S. military administration, also came to be at feud with him since it was excluded from the distribution of power. Rhee embarked on the formation of a ruling party so that he could recover from his weakened political base after the 5․10 Election. His own plan for the formation was to create an 'enormous ruling party,' or a 'national party' by uniting diverse political bodies. However, this incipient attempt of Rhee's miscarried. This failure was partly due to the difference among the interests of many political groups and the disruption in the process of forming the KNP ― for example, Sin, Ikhi , Ji, Chongchon, and others organized the DNP in league with the KDP. On the other hand, it was mostly due to Rhee's duplicitous attitude toward the organization of the government party. That is to say, Rhee took a detached attitude toward the formation of the party even if it was out of his own needs. Owing to this doubleness of his, Rhee did not have his own way in forming the initial administration party. Nevertheless, he was successful in making use of the KNP to reject the amendment for the parliamentary government, presented by the DNP.