The Representative Democratic Council () was a group that emerged in Korea after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as an advisory group to the military government. It held its first meeting on February 14, 1946. It was led by

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965), also known by his art name Unam (), was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisiona ...

, later to be the first leader of South Korea after the failure of unification. The group was against proposals made between the Americans and the Soviets to set up a Commission which would allow the country to be unified by elections only after a period of self-governance under the international trusteeship. Rhee opposed the measures because both he and

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

wanted to unify Korea which in some ways was an artificial division brought about by

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

tensions between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the Soviet Union. The fact that Korea had only just emerged from a period of being controlled by Imperial

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

also meant that nationalists such as Rhee were uneasy about another period of foreign involvement in Korea. It was succeeded by the Interim Legislative Assembly in November 1946.

References

{{korea-stub 1946 establishments in Korea 1946 disestablishments in Korea Allied occupation of Korea