Grave of Syngman Rhee and Francesca Maria Barbara Donner, at the Seoul National Cemetery, South Korea. Syngman Rhee (1875 ¡V 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Francesca Maria Barbara Donner (1900 ¡V 1992) was the inaugural First Lady of South Korea, from 1948 to 1960, as the second wife of Syngman Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea.