이승만의 여당 결성과 활용

Rhee s the formation and exploitation of a ruling party

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. Rhee’s move of forming the ruling party proceeded in a more concrete and positive way as the second National Assembly tended to be far more favorable to the government. All this was derived from the slim possibilities of Rhee’s reelection through the indirect election by the National Assembly. In August, 1951, upon issuing the statement about forming a new party, the organization of a ruling party came to take a concrete shape and then the LP turned up. Taking advantage of the LP, Rhee made the amendment for the direct election of president passed. After that, he gradually took control of the National Assembly, reinforcing his power base.