Timeline Sunday 15 August 1948

Events on Sunday 15 August 1948 1

• 1948 Republic of Korea established Syngman Rhee inaugurated as South Korea's first president The Republic of Korea was formally established on August 15, 1948, in the US-occupied southern half of the Korean peninsula, with Syngman Rhee as its first president. The declaration followed elections held under UN supervision in May 1948. Weeks later a separate communist state was proclaimed in the north, cementing the peninsula's division.