Assemblies in Photos
May 31, 1948: Constituent Assembly holds inaugural meeting
- May 29, 2014
- 465
On May 31, 1948, 198 members of the Constituent Assembly of Korea gathered in the former Japanese Government-General building in Seoul to embark on the founding of the Republic of Korea. To commemorate this historic date, each year the National Assembly holds a ceremony in the last week of May.
The first general election was held on May 10 under a single-member constituency system. Drawing keen public interest, it attracted a record-high turnout of over 95 percent of voters. To cope with the high illiteracy rate at the time, each candidate’s enrollment number was indicated on their campaign poster with lines above their name.
When the election ended, the focus turned to who would convene the first assembly, and how and when such a meeting would take place. After a series of meetings with U.S. government officials, who had been administering South Korea since its liberation from Japanese colonial rule, on May 22 the representatives-elect established a preparatory committee on convocation of the National Assembly. It was chaired by Mr. Sin Ik-hui.
As prescribed in a resolution passed by the committee, a preliminary conference was convened on May 27 that took up the task of drawing up the opening ceremony procedure and rules on how the parliament would be operated before an official National Assembly Act went into effect. The opening date of the National Assembly was also decided by the committee.
The first plenary session of the Constituent Assembly took place on May 31 in the conference hall of the former Government-General building, with 198 members attending. The provisional speaker, Lee Seung-man—the eldest among the members—presided over the session and was elected as the first speaker of the National Assembly of Korea. Sin Ik-hui and Kim Dong-won were elected as vice speakers.
At 2 p.m., the ceremony opened with the national anthem, salute to the flag, and opening address, which was followed by congratulatory speeches by U.S. Army Gen. John R. Hodge and Gen. William F. Dean. Outside the building, student groups held a parade as excited citizens gathered in the streets to watch the procession. The ceremony reached a climax when all the attendees shouted “Long live Korea!” three times in unison. The Republic of Korea had thus taken the first step in its history of constitutional government.
The first general election was held on May 10 under a single-member constituency system. Drawing keen public interest, it attracted a record-high turnout of over 95 percent of voters. To cope with the high illiteracy rate at the time, each candidate’s enrollment number was indicated on their campaign poster with lines above their name.
When the election ended, the focus turned to who would convene the first assembly, and how and when such a meeting would take place. After a series of meetings with U.S. government officials, who had been administering South Korea since its liberation from Japanese colonial rule, on May 22 the representatives-elect established a preparatory committee on convocation of the National Assembly. It was chaired by Mr. Sin Ik-hui.
As prescribed in a resolution passed by the committee, a preliminary conference was convened on May 27 that took up the task of drawing up the opening ceremony procedure and rules on how the parliament would be operated before an official National Assembly Act went into effect. The opening date of the National Assembly was also decided by the committee.
The first plenary session of the Constituent Assembly took place on May 31 in the conference hall of the former Government-General building, with 198 members attending. The provisional speaker, Lee Seung-man—the eldest among the members—presided over the session and was elected as the first speaker of the National Assembly of Korea. Sin Ik-hui and Kim Dong-won were elected as vice speakers.
At 2 p.m., the ceremony opened with the national anthem, salute to the flag, and opening address, which was followed by congratulatory speeches by U.S. Army Gen. John R. Hodge and Gen. William F. Dean. Outside the building, student groups held a parade as excited citizens gathered in the streets to watch the procession. The ceremony reached a climax when all the attendees shouted “Long live Korea!” three times in unison. The Republic of Korea had thus taken the first step in its history of constitutional government.
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