Gwangbokjeol is one of the Public holidays in South Korea. It commemorates liberation from Japan and the subsequent creation of the Korean government three years later. It is celebrated yearly in both South Korea and North Korea; in the latter, it is known as Chogukhaebangŭi nal.
Despite the date, Korea did not gain actual independence on August 15, 1945 (except for the short-lived People's Republic of Korea), but was occupied by the armies of the world's two superpowers, who oversaw the decommissioning of Japanese troops on the peninsula. The North was occupied by the Red Army and governed by the Soviet Civil Authority. The South was occupied by the United States starting August 13, 1945.
South Korea was not independent until Syngman Rhee was sworn in as first president of South Korea on August 13, 1948. There is speculation as to why the celebration is August 15, one of them supposing a political strategy to associate Korean independence with the date of Japan's surrender to the Allies of World War II (August 15, 1945), though the true reason is unclear.
