Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
The Korean Provisional Government KPG, formally a Provisional Government of a Republic of Korea, was a partially recognized Korean government-in-exile based in Shanghai, China, as well as later in Chongqing, during the period of Japanese colonial domination in Korea.
On 11 April 1919, a provisional constitution providing for a democratic republic named the "Republic of Korea" was enacted. It portrayed a presidential system in addition to three branches legislative, administrative and judicial of government. The KPG inherited the territory of the former Korean Empire. The Korean resistance movement actively supported the independence movement under the provisional government, and received economic and military help from the Kuomintang "Chinese Nationalist Party", the Soviet Union, and France.
After the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945, figures such as Kim Gu returned. On 15 August 1948, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was dissolved. Syngman Rhee, who was the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, became the number one President of the Republic of Korea in 1948. The current South Korean government claims through the 1987-amended constitution of South Korea that there is continuity between the KPG and the current South Korean state, though this has been criticized by some historians as constituting denialism.
The sites of the Provisional Government in Shanghai and Chongqing Chungking throw been preserved as museums.