1st Republic () is a South Korean historical television series that was originally broadcast on MBC TV from 2 April 1981 to 11 February 1982. According to some sources, it is considered the first political drama television series in South Korean history, and the first to depict a recent president during an era of heavy media censorship. It covers the First Republic of Korea: the government of South Korea between 1948 and 1960. The series consisted of 39 episodes, each around an hour long, and led to multiple sequel series over the next few decades that covered each of the Five Republics of Korea, including the 2005 5th Republic TV series.
Premise The show covers events from 1945 to 1960, including the 1945 liberation of Korea from the Japanese Empire, the 1950 Korean War, and the 1960 establishment of the Second Republic of Korea.
Cast
Choi Bool-am as Syngman Rhee Lee Young-hoo as Kim Ku Park Gyu-chae as Lee Ki-poong Kook Jong-hwan as Kim Il Sung Shim Yang-hong as Yu Chin-san Lee Jung-gil as Chang Taek-sang Kim Mu-saeng as Chough Pyung-ok Park Jong-gwan as Cho Man-shik Kim Yong-gun as Yun Chi-young Choi Myeong-soo as Kim Chun-yon Kim Gil-ho as Lyuh Woon-hyung Park Geun-hyung as Song Jin-woo Park Yeong-ji as Kim Tu-bong Lee Mug-won as Kim Kyu-sik Han In-su as Chang Deok-soo Im Hyun-sik as Choe Hyon Kang In-deok as Kim Du-han Park Woong as Kwak Sang-hoon Kim Ae-gyeong as Maria Kim Jung Ae-ri as Kim Soo-im Bak Il as Park In-soo Jo Kyung-hwan as Lee Jeong-jae O Yeong-su as Military Prosecutor
Production
The series was created just after Chun Doo-hwan seized power at the beginning of the Fifth Republic of Korea, shortly after Park Chung Hee was assassinated in 1979. During both the Chun and Park eras, media censorship was common, making dramas depicting political topics extremely sensitive.
The president of MBC at the time, , closely monitored the creation of the show, to ensure it did not draw the ire of the government.
Go later served as the head of the Korea Creative Content Agency in the Korean Government from 2007 to 2009.
Episodes +1981EpisodeBroadcast DateTitle (English)Title (Korean)12 April 1981Syngman Rhee and Kim Ku29 April 1981Assassination, Assassination, Assassination316 April 1981Cho Man-shik and Kim Il Sung423 April 1981Terror530 April 1981Syngman Rhee in 194667 May 1981The Namro Party714 May 1981The Three Leaders of Summer 1947821 May 1981United Nations Commission on Korea928 May 1981Kim Ku and North-South Talks (Part 1)104 June 1981Kim Ku and North-South Talks (Part 2)1111 June 1981The First President Syngman Rhee1218 June 1981Female Spy Kim Soo-im1325 June 1981Miscalculation142 July 1981Jogakdang at 159 July 1981The National Assembly's 1616 July 1981The Banmintukui Affair (Part 1)1730 July 1981The Banmintukui Affair (Part 2)186 August 1981The President's People1927 August 1981Ah, Baekbeom (Part 1)203 September 1981Ah, Baekbeom (Part 2)2110 September 1981The May 30th Election2217 September 198190 Days Under the Enemy2324 September 1981 During Wartime241 October 1981The 258 October 1981Woonam's Restart2615 October 1981The Peace Line2728 October 1981Merchants During Wartime285 November 1981The Release of Anti-Communist Captives and Truce2912 November 1981The KNYA's Elimination and Lee Ki-poong3019 November 1981The Park In-soo Affair3126 November 1981The Liberal Party's Landslide Victory (Part 1)3210 December 1981The Liberal Party's Landslide Victory (Part 2)3317 December 1981Lee Ki-poong and the Liberal 1982347 January 1982Kim Il Sung and the Purge3514 January 1982The 3621 January 1982Kim Du-han and Lee Jeong-jae3728 January 1982Adoptee Lee Gang-seok384 February 1982The Artists Corps and Lim Hwa-su3911 February 1982The Democratic Party's Dispute with New and Old Parties and the End of the First Republic
Notes
References
Sources
Books
Online
External links
(streaming available in South Korea only)