1st Republic (Korean: 제1공화국; RR: Je Il Gonghwaguk) is a South Korean historical television series that was originally broadcast on MBC TV from 2 April 1981 to 11 February 1982.[2] According to some sources,[a] 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.[3][4][5][6] 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,[2] 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.[5][7]
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.[4]
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.[4]
The president of MBC at the time, Lee Jin-hui, closely monitored the creation of the show, to ensure it did not draw the ire of the government.[8][4]
Go later served as the head of the Korea Creative Content Agency in the Korean Government from 2007 to 2009.[7]