April Revolution

April Revolution
Protesters during the April Revolution
Date	April 11–26, 1960 (1960-04-11 – 1960-04-26)
Location	South Korea
Caused by	Oppression by Syngman Rhee's government Electoral fraud
Resulted in	Resignation and exile of Rhee Establishment of the Second Republic of Korea Yun Posun elected as president
Parties
First Republic of Korea Pro-democracy protestors
Lead figures
Syngman Rhee Lee Ki-poong † Choi In-Kyu
Casualties and losses
186 civilians

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History of South Korea
Preludes to Division 1910–48 Japanese rule 1910–45 Korean Provisional Government 1919–48 People's Republic of Korea 1945–46 USAMGIK 1945–48
First Republic 1948–60 Korean War 1950–53 Syngman Rhee government 1948–60 April Revolution 1960
Second Republic 1960–63 Yun Posun government 1960 Chang Myon cabinet 1960–61 May 16 coup 1961 Supreme Council for National Reconstruction 1961–63
Third Republic 1963–72 Park Chung-hee government 1963–79 Yushin Constitution 1972
Fourth Republic 1972–81 Assassination of Park Chung-hee 1979 December 12 coup 1979 May 17 coup 1980 Gwangju Uprising 1980
Fifth Republic 1981–88 Chun Doo-hwan government 1981–87 June Democracy Movement 1987
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The April Revolution (Korean: 4.19 혁명), also called the April 19 Revolution or April 19 Movement, were mass protests in South Korea against President Syngman Rhee and the First Republic from April 11 to 26, 1960, which led to Rhee's resignation.^[1]

Protests opposing Rhee were started by student and labor groups in the southeastern port city of Masan on April 11. The protests were triggered by the discovery of the body of a local high school student killed by police during demonstrations against rigged elections in March. Popular discontent had arisen due to Rhee's autocratic rule, corruption, use of violence against political opposition, and uneven development of South Korea. The Masan discovery led to large student protests in Seoul, which were violently suppressed; a total of 186 people were killed during the two weeks of protest.^[2] Rhee resigned on April 26 before fleeing to exile in the United States, and was replaced by Yun Posun, beginning the transition to the Second Republic of South Korea.