2 April 1981 (1981-04-02) – 11 February 1982 (1982-02-11)
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 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 [ko], closely monitored the creation of the show, to ensure it did not draw the ire of the government.[8][4]
Go, Seok-man (31 October 2019), 나는 드라마로 시대를 기록했다 [I Recorded History Using Drama] (in Korean), Changbi Publishers, ISBN9788936408398, retrieved 5 April 2023
Online
Kang, Jae-hoon; Kim, Gyeong-ae (7 January 2018), "드라마 때문에 청와대 비상대책회의를 소집하다니…" [They convened an emergency meeting at the Blue House because of a TV drama...], The Hankyoreh (in Korean), retrieved 5 April 2023
Kim, Gyeong-ae (4 March 2018), "첫 정치 드라마 '제1공화국'…첫 녹화장에 사장까지 출동했다" [The president of MBC himself visited the first shooting of first political drama 1st Republic], The Hankyoreh (in Korean), retrieved 5 April 2023
