1948년 대한민국 정부 수립과 주한미군의 정권 이양 과정 및 의미

Abstract

The purpose of the present study lies in examining the entire process of transfer of government functions from the United States Army Forces in Korea (USAFIK) to the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and in grasping the nature of the transfer. Ultimately, it lies in understanding the relationship between the exercise of sovereignty by the ROK government and the transfer of power by USAFIK on the Korean Peninsula. First, the transfer of government functions from USAFIK to the ROK government is very large, it was a complex issue. the root of the problem about transfer of power lay in the military occupation of a part of the Korean Peninsula, declaration of a de-facto sovereign government, and rule over the Korean people by the US armed forces, which lacked essential sovereignty. It was related also to the authority that the United States government sought to secure in the future when USAFIK transferred their authority to the ROK government. Second, the transfer of government functions was the final process in the recovery of sovereignty. Though it had passed through a series of stages for the establishment of the government from the May 10 elections to the August 15 celebratory ceremony for the establishment of the government, the ROK government was unable to perform its functions. It was only after the ratification (September 18, 1948) of the ‘Initial Financial and Property Settlement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Korea’(‘Initial Financial Agreement’), which concluded agreement between the two countries on transfer of power, that the ROK government’s functions began operation. Consequently, transfer of power played a role as an indispensable step for the ROK government’s exercise of sovereignty internally and externally. Third, the transfer of government functions was performed through the signing of diverse agreements. First, the ‘Executive Agreement Between the President of the Republic of Korea and the Command General, United States Army Forces in Korea, Concerning Interim Military and Security Matters During the Transitional Period’ was signed(August 24, 1948), the ‘Initial Financial Agreement’ was officially signed, and transfer per government departments was completed. It was after the completion of all of these tasks that the Agreement on Aid between the USA and the ROK was signed(December 1948). Fourth, while it was basically a task of settling the past, the transfer of power was a problem of the future as well. regime transfer consisted of the transfer of the authority, property, etc. hitherto held by the USAFIK to the South Korean government, and the cause or justification of the ‘Agreement Concerning Interim Military and Security Matters’ and the ‘Initial Financial Agreement’ likewise lay in the transfer. Transfer of government functions through the signing of these agreements, however, signified the creation of the framework of ROK-US relations following the transfer.