page_title: Chang Myon
section_title: Political activities
hierarchical_section_title: Chang Myon / Political career / Political activities
caption_attribution_description: 1948.12 파리 UN총회 옵저버 (조병옥, 모윤숙, 장면)
context_page_description: Chang Myon was a South Korean statesman, educator, diplomat, journalist and social activist as well as a Roman Catholic youth activist. He was the last Vice President of South Korea and the Prime Minister of the Second Republic. His styled name was Unseok. His English name was John Chang Myon.
  Under the Japanese rule, Chang worked as a teacher. From 1919–21, he taught at Yongsan Youth Catholic Theology School and from 1931–36 at Dongsung Commerce High School. From 1937–44, he was principal of Hyehwa Kindergarten of the Hyehwa-dong Catholic Church. From 1936–45, he was principal of Dongsung Commerce High School.
  In 1948, he led the delegation of the Republic of Korea to the UN General Assembly. In 1949, he became the first ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States. In 1950, he successfully appealed to the United States and the UN to send troops to assist in the Korean War. On November 23, 1950, he was appointed the second prime minister of the First Republic of Korea. From 1956 to 1960, he served as the fourth vice president of the First Republic of Korea.
context_section_description: On February 11, 1946, he was appointed a member of the Democratic Conference (민주의원 의원, 民主議院議員) and a Representative of Emergency Peoples Conference (비상국민회의 대의원, 非常國民會議 代議員). That August, Chang was elected to the South Korean Provisional National Assembly (남조선과도입법위원회 의원, 南朝鮮過渡立法委員會議員). By this time, he emerged as a major political figure in the Syngman Rhee administration of the First Republic of Korea.
  On May 10, 1948, he ran for a National Assembly seat from Jongro District of Seoul, and he was duly elected on May 30. On October 11 of the same year, he led the delegation of the Republic of Korea to the UN General Assembly and witnessed the recognition of the Republic of Korea as a sovereign nation by the UN on December 12, 1948. In 1949, he visited the Vatican to express his appreciation of the Vatican's active support of his diplomatic endeavors.
  In December 1949, he was appointed the first ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States. In April 1950, he was designated a special envoy of the Republic of Korea to Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. Immediately after the outbreak of the Korean War, on June 25, 1950, he actively solicited urgent aide from the United States and the UN.
caption: The Third UN General Assembly, 1948
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