What are the chances for a Korean monarchical restoration in 1945?

First of all, Crown Prince Euimin had served as an IJAAF general during the war, so he's out as a potential candidate. His son, the Prince Imperial Gu, was only 14 when the war ended.
 

The Vulture

Banned
First of all, Crown Prince Euimin had served as an IJAAF general during the war, so he's out as a potential candidate. His son, the Prince Imperial Gu, was only 14 when the war ended.

So the power will be in the hands of a Regent or Prime Minister if Gu is in. I assume we're going with a constitutional monarchy here, perhaps modeled after the British or Thai system. Who might be strong contenders for a civilian government?
 
Syngman Rhee can't be the one, because though he himself has royal blood (a member of a minor branch of the imperial family) he is a staunch republican who refused to allow the royals to return to Korea during his presidency and kept the ex-Empress under house arrest in fear that monarchists might use her as a figurehead to oppose his dictatorship. So maybe have him killed somehow and have his rival Kim Gu, who like Rhee served as president of the puppet Korean government during the interwar years, assume the role. I don't know much about Kim but so long as Rhee is around you aren't going to get a monarchy.
 
Kim Gu is the best candidate. Assuming that Korea wouldn't be divided and that Kim-Il-Sung would be neutralised in a way or another, Rhee's anticommunist platform wouldn't be so appealing to Koreans nationalists, and Rhee himself, quite controversial since the old days of the Korean provisional Govt in exile, would probably be far less popular. Prince Gu could be then crowned Emperor with some Regency system. Still, Gu and Kim would have a hard time to make Koreans forget the failure of the dynasty to protect Korea's independance.

Incidently, a Korean drama series called "Goong" (or Princess Hours in English), that has been extremely popular in ROK and in Asia as well, is based on the premise that a Korean monarchy has been set back on the throne after 1945, the story revolving around the princes' and princesses' antics and love stories while the current Emperor is dying.
 
Top