People's Republic of Korea

1945–1946 provisional government

The People's Republic of Korea (PRK; hangul=조선인민공화국) was a short lived provisional government that was organized at the time of the surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II. It was proclaimed on 6 September 1945, as Korea was being divided into two occupation zones, with the Soviet Union occupying the north and the United States occupying the south. Based on a network of people's committees, it presented a program of radical social change. In the south, the US military government outlawed the PRK on 12 December 1945. In the north, the Soviet authorities took over the PRK by installing pro Soviet Korean communists such as Kim Il sung into positions of power and incorporated it into the political structure of the emerging Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).

The PRK has great significance in that it is the first Korean political organization to implement local autonomy, in the form of the people's committees. By the end of August, more than 140 committees were established nationwide in response to the support of the people. Later it was nominally nominate Syngman Rhee as PRK's leader, Kim Ku and Kim Kyu sik were also invited to join the cabinet, but all of them refused. The organizational work of the National Preparatory Committee was also carried out in North Korea. The leader in the North Korean region was Cho Man sik, a native of Pyongyang, who 'took a non violent yet uncompromising route' during the Japanese colonial period. Under different regional conditions in the south and north of the Korean Peninsula, Lyuh Woon hyung and Cho Man sik simultaneously launched the founding project.

The program of the PRK was presented in its 14 September twenty seven point program. The program included: "the confiscation without compensation of lands held by the Japanese and collaborators; free distribution of that land to the peasants; rent limits on the nonredistributed land; nationalization of such major industries as mining, transportation, banking, and communication; state supervision of small and mid sized companies; guaranteed basic human rights and freedoms, including those of speech, press, assembly, and faith; universal suffrage to adults over the age of eighteen; equality for women; labor law reforms including an eight hour day, a minimum wage, and prohibition of child labor; and "establishment of close relations with the United States, USSR, United Kingdom, and China, and positive opposition to any foreign influences interfering with the domestic affairs of the state." The motto of the PRK was, accordingly, "Self reliant and independent state" (hangul=자주독립국가).

When Soviet troops entered Pyongyang on 24 August 1945, they found a local People's Committee established there, led by veteran Christian nationalist Cho Man sik. While the Soviet authorities initially recognized and worked with the People's Committees, they made determined efforts to ensure that Koreans friendly to their political interests, especially Korean communists, were placed into positions of power. Immediately after entering Korea, Soviet officials set about shifting the political center of the Peoples' Committees to pro Soviet leanings, and installed a number of Korean communists into the Peoples' Committees until eventually they formed the majority in these organizations. By some accounts, Cho Man sik was the Soviet government's first choice to lead North Korea. The new regime instituted popular policies of land redistribution, industry nationalization, labor law reform, and equality for women.