and against both North Korea and Japan. Although talks towards normalization of relations with Japan took place, they achieved little. Meanwhile, the government took in vast sums of American aid, in amounts sometimes near the total size of the national budget. The nationalist government also continued many of the practices of the U.S. military government. In 1948, the Rhee government repressed military uprisings in Jeju, Suncheon and Yeosu. During the rebellion and its suppression 14,000 to 60,000 people were killed in all fighting. Of note, President Rhee's regime was intolerant of opposition. A famous event that highlighted this was the arrest and conviction of future President Park Chung-hee, for communist conspiracy in 1948. The main policy of the First Republic of South Korea was anti-communism and "unification by expanding northward". The South's military was neither sufficiently equipped nor prepared, but the Rhee administration was determined to reunify Korea by military force with aid from the United States. However, in the second parliamentary elections held on 30 May 1950, the majority of seats went to independents who did not endorse this position, confirming the lack of support and the fragile state of the nation. When the communist army attacked from the North in June, retreating South Korean forces executed tens of thousands suspected communists or sympathisers, either in prison or in a reeducation movement, in what is known as the Bodo League massacre. On 25 June 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea. Led by the U.S., a 16-member coalition undertook the first collective action under the United Nations Command (UNC) in defense of South Korea. Oscillating battle lines inflicted a high number of civilian casualties and wrought immense destruction. With the People's Republic of China's entry on behalf of North Korea in late 1950, the fighting came to a stalemate close to the original line of demarcation. Armistice negotiations, initiated in July 1951, finally concluded on 27 July 1953 at Panmunjom, now in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Following the armistice, the South Korean government returned to Seoul on the symbolic date of 15 August 1953. After the armistice, South Korea experienced political turmoil under years of autocratic leadership of Syngman Rhee, which was ended by student revolt in 1960. Throughout his rule, Rhee sought to take additional steps to cement his control of government. These began in 1952, when the government was still based in Busan due to the ongoing