---
title: '총선거 5월 10일 (General Election, May 10): 총선거로 독립문은 열린다 (The General Election Opens the Independence Gate)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/general-election-may-10-poster-south-korea-1948/
description: A colour lithograph poster for the 10 May 1948 election shows a crowd holding up ballots and marching through the Independence Gate towards the…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![총선거 5월 10일 (General Election, May 10): 총선거로 독립문은 열린다 (The General Election Opens the Independence Gate)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/general-election-may-10-poster-south-korea-1948.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/general-election-may-10-poster-south-korea-1948.jpg)

# 총선거 5월 10일 (General Election, May 10): 총선거로 독립문은 열린다 (The General Election Opens the Independence Gate)

A colour lithograph poster for the 10 May 1948 election shows a crowd holding up ballots and marching through the Independence Gate towards the government building, under crossed Taegukgi flags. The gate and flags carry the message: 'The general election opens the Independence Gate', 'Voting is the duty of a patriotic citizen', 'Abstaining is the nation's shame'. National symbols and virtue words stand in for any account of what is on the ballot.

- **Date:** 1948
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** South Korean election publicity under the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea (issuing office not printed on the poster)
- **Region:** [East Asia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=east-asia)
- **Country:** [Korea Under US Military Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=korea-under-us-military-government)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [US Army Military Government in Korea](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=us-army-military-government-in-korea)
- **Leader:** [William F. Dean](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=william-f-dean)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Theme:** [Elections and party politics](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=elections-party-politics)
- **Event:** [South Korean General Election 1948](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=south-korean-general-election-1948)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)
- **Source:** Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (National Folk Museum of Korea, KOGL Type 1)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Korean_Constitutional_Assembly_election_poster,_1948.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** KOGL Type 1 (Korea Open Government License, attribution only), per Commons file page Anonymous, 1948. National Folk Museum of Korea (국립민속박물관), via Wikimedia Commons; KOGL Type 1 (http://www.kogl.or.kr/info/licenseType1.do).

## Text on the object

Original (Korean (Hangul)) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
총선거 5월 10일

[on the arch:] [총]선거로 독립문은 열린다
[under the arch:] 중앙정부수립

[left margin:] 기권은 국민의 수치
[right margin:] 투표는 애국민의 의무
[bottom left:] 국회선거

[small figure of a woman with a bowl, top right: no text; part of the sheet there is torn away]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
General election, 10 May. [Arch] The general election opens the Independence Gate. [Under the arch] Establishment of the central government. [Left] Abstaining is the nation's shame. [Right] Voting is the duty of a patriotic citizen. [Bottom left] National Assembly election.
```

The first syllable on the arch is damaged and is read as 총 from the Commons description ('총선거로 독립문이 열린다'); the sheet has tears at the top right and right edge.

[← Bangsa "Merdeka", Negara "Merdeka": Inilah Tudjuan Kita! (Free Nation, Free State: This Is Our Goal!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bangsa-merdeka-negara-merdeka-1948/) [À qui le crime profite-t-il? (Viet Minh leaflet on the back of a French Indochina one-piastre note, 1948) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/viet-minh-piastre-leaflet-1948/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)