History of Korea
After the end of WWII in 1945, the Allies divided the country into a northern area (protected by the Soviets) and a southern area protected (primarily by the United States). In 1948, when the powers failed to agree on the formation of a single government, this partition became the modern states of North and South Korea. The peninsula was divided at the 38th Parallel: the "Republic of Korea" was created in the south, with the backing of the US and Western Europe, and the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in the north, with the backing of the Soviets and the communist People's Republic of China. The new premier of North Korea, Kim il-Sung, launched the Korean War in 1950 in an attempt to reunify the country under Communist rule. After immense material and human destruction, the conflict ended with a cease-fire in 1953. The two nations officially remain at war because a peace treaty was never signed. In 1991, both states were accepted into the United Nations.
Shin Hyun-hwak
Hyun-hwak was the South Korean minister of Health and Social affairs between 1975 and 1978, becoming Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea in 1978. While Deputy Prime Minister, he was also minister for the economic planning board. Following the assassination of Park Chung-hee, Prime Minister Choi Kyu-hah became acting President of South Korea. On December 13th 1979, Hyun-hwak was appointed as Prime Minister of South Korea, as part of the Coup d'état of December Twelfth. Following the coup, Choi Kyu-hah repealed a decree banning criticism of the constitution, as well as releasing dissidents from prison. Following the Coup d'état of May Seventeenth, Hyun-hwak was deposed on 21st May 1980, in the events that lead to the dissolution of the Fourth Republic of Korea and creation of the Fifth Republic of Korea.