Syngman Rhee's Jeongeup Speech

Also called: Jeongeup statement

After the first US–Soviet Joint Commission adjourned, Syngman Rhee proposed at Jeongeup, North Jeolla, that a provisional government be set up even if only in the south.

When the first US–Soviet Joint Commission adjourned indefinitely in May 1946, Syngman Rhee, touring the southern provinces, said at Jeongeup on 3 June: "There is no sign that the adjourned Joint Commission will reopen, and the unified government we long for is not coming, so we should organize a provisional government or committee, even if only in the south, and appeal to world opinion for the Soviets to withdraw from north of the 38th parallel."

It was the first public call for a separate government in the south. Worried about division, centrists such as Yeo Un-hyeong and Kim Kyu-sik formed the Left–Right Coalition Committee in July. As the Joint Commission finally broke down and the Korean question went to the United Nations, the case for a separate government gained ground.