The politics of South Korea take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. To ensure a separation of powers, the government of the Republic of Korea is made up of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. The government exercises executive power, and legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and comprises a Supreme Court, appellate courts, and a Constitutional Court.
Since 1948, the constitution has undergone nine major revisions, each signifying a new republic. The current Sixth Republic began with the last major constitutional revision that took effect in 1988. From its founding until the June (1987) Democratic Struggle, the South Korean political system operated under a military authoritarian regime, with the freedom of assembly, association, expression, press and religion as well as civil society activism being tightly restricted. During that period, there were no freely elected national leaders, political opposition was suppressed, dissent was not permitted and civil rights were curtailed.
According to the V-Dem Democracy indices in 2026, South Korea was the joint most electorally democratic country (alongside Japan), as well as the most liberally democratic country in Asia. South Korea is often cited as a model of democracy due to its relatively peaceful and internally-driven democratic transition.
The period from the mid-2000s to mid-2010s are often considered South Korea's backsliding period. Although, some have argued South Korea has hit a democratic ceiling and changes are more characteristic of democratic stagnation, rather than outright regression. This took the form of more state involvement (particularly through the Korea Communications Commission or KCC) in media control and less editorial independence among journalists with conservative media owners.
Overall, political expression lagged behind comparable democracies. Additionally, South Korea has very strict election and campaign finance regulations, that includes no door-to-door canvassing and, consequently, some have cited these regulations as barriers to political expression and free and fair elections. These changes have largely attributed to South Korea's weak political party structure that emphasizes leaders and, consequently, hyper-presidentialism. Moreover, a right-left ideological divide has been more deeply entrenched into South Korean political society. However, South Korea is considered to have a strong civil society or simin sahoe manifested through a large number of civic organizations that prevented further backsliding via the 2016-2017 Candlelight Demonstrations. South Korea was also plagued by strong regionalism, dating back to the Silla-Baekje rivalry.
Under more recent administrations such as President Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea has taken a stance as a "Global Pivotal State," which involves a greater role in East Asia as a democratic power. Despite its own democratic struggles, South Korea has taken an active role on democracy on the global stage, having hosted the 2024 Summit for Democracy and committing to "strengthen coordination on promoting democracy and protecting human rights" at the 2023 Camp David Summit with the U.S. and Japan, bolstering their trilateral relationship.
National government
Executive branch
|President |Lee Jae-myung |Democratic |4 June 2025 |- |Prime Minister of South Korea |Han Seong-sook ||Independent |1 July 2026
The head of state is the president, who is elected by direct popular vote for a single five-year term. The president is Commander-in-Chief of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and enjoys considerable executive powers.
The president appoints the prime minister with approval of the National Assembly, as well as appointing and presiding over the State Council of chief ministers as the head of government. On 12 March 2004, the executive power of then President Roh Moo-hyun was suspended when the Assembly voted to impeach him and Prime Minister Goh Kun became an Acting President. On 14 May 2004, the Constitutional Court overturned the impeachment decision made by the Assembly and Roh was reinstated.
On 4 June 2025, Lee Jae-myung succeeded Yoon Suk Yeol as president of South Korea.
Legislative branch
The National Assembly () has 300 members, elected for a four-year term, 253 members in single-seat constituencies and 47 members by proportional representation. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is the largest party in the Assembly.
Judicial branch
The South Korean judiciary is independent of the other two branches of government, and is composed of two different highest courts. Inferior ordinary courts are under the Supreme Court, whose justices are appointed by the president of South Korea with the consent of the National Assembly. In addition, the Constitutional Court oversees questions of constitutionality, as single and the only court whose justices are appointed by the president of South Korea by equal portion of nomination from the president, the National Assembly, and the Supreme Court Chief justice. South Korea has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
Political parties and elections
South Korea elects on national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly (Gukhoe) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term, 253 members in single-seat constituencies and 47 members by proportional representation.
The main two political parties in South Korea are the centrist or centre-left Democratic Party of Korea ( or DPK) and the conservative People Power Party (PPP), formerly the United Future Party (UFP). These are the dominant forces of South Korean politics at present.
Political nature South Korea's political history has always been prone to splits from and merges with other parties. One reason is that there is a greater emphasis around the 'politics of the individual' rather than the party; therefore, party loyalty is not strong when disagreements occur. The graph below illustrates the extent of the political volatility within the last 10 years alone. These splits were intensified after the 2016 South Korean political scandal. Party realignment is a persistent feature of Korean party politics. The repeated mergers and splits among political parties indicate a low level of institutionalization. Studies have generally assessed the institutionalization of Korean party politics as weak.Moon, Woojin (2023). Political Party Models and Korean Parties in the Age of Personalized Politics: The Operationalization of the Party Models and A Comparative Analysis. Korean Party Studies Review, 22(4), 5-38. 10.30992/KPSR.2023.12.31.4.5 After democratization, a personalistic party structure, a lack of voluntary party foundation, a lack of development into a policy party, and confrontational relations between political parties have been identified as major factors contributing to the low institutionalization of Korean party politics.Chung, Jin Min (2008). Party Institutionalization and Party Politics in Korea. 한국정치연구, 17(2), 33-53. The following is an explanation of the four factors above. Since democratization, Korean political parties have long had a fragmented structure centered on party leaders with regional bases. It also functioned as an electoral body to realize the personal political goals of party leaders. As political parties repeatedly merged and disintegrated according to the political interests of their leaders, the stable institutionalization of party politics failed to take place. Korean political parties have operated under an undemocratic structure, with the central party and grassroots organizations centered around leaders. Even recently, there have been criticisms that the distinction between public and private affairs within political parties has become blurred, resulting in nominations being made for the personal gain of the party leader. As a result, voluntary voter participation in party politics has been limited, making it difficult for parties to establish a stable organizational foundation. The absence of voluntary voter participation has hindered the institutionalization of party politics. And this has also made it difficult for political parties to carry out their essential functions, namely, expressing and uniting social interests. A survey result also showed that when National Assembly members choose important agendas, they consider their party's platform and policies more important than the policy preferences of their constituents or public opinion. In a survey on factors influencing the agenda of National Assembly members' legislative activities, 61.4% of respondents chose 'affiliated party's platform and policies', while 43.8% chose 'preferences for local constituents' policies'. Accordingly, the development of a political party with policy differentiation has also been delayed. As a result, Korean political parties have not been able to sufficiently perform their political agenda-setting function of gathering the diverse demands of voters and turning these demands into political issues. South Korea's party politics has shown limited effectiveness in resolving social conflicts and promoting social integration. Despite a long period of democratization, party politics still maintains a confrontational structure, hindering productive legislative activity that responds promptly to public demands.Sun-Pil Eum (2023). Reforming the Proportional Representation System of the National Assembly for the Advanced Party Politics in Korea. 홍익법학, 24(4), 1-40.
Some have argued that South Korea's political parties, dominated by powerful politicians and driven by competition, have maintained stability without a solid public organizational foundation. The South Korean party system, dominated by a small number of powerful politicians, has been labeled a "partyless democracy."Hellmann, Olli. 2014. “Party System Institutionalization Without Parties: Evidence from Korea.” Journal of East Asian Studies 14-1: 53-84. In Korean political parties, patron-client relationships between faction leaders and their followers influence party decision-making and significantly impact nomination outcomes. During the 20th general election, the Saenuri Party promised 100% bottom-up nominations, but its nomination management committee unilaterally excluded non-Park Geun-hye figures from the nomination process. The Democratic Party of Korea pursued a system-based nomination system, but it implemented factional nominations that conflicted with the party constitution and rules.Jhee, Byong-Kuen (2016). Factional Conflict and Candidate Nomination of Major Political Parties: A Case Study of the 2016 Legislative Election in Korea. EAST AND WEST STUDIES, 28(4), 59-86.
During the 22nd National Assembly election, the major political parties also faced similar controversies during their nomination processes. The Democratic Party of Korea advocated for "systematic nominations" and emphasized the transparency of its internal nomination process. However, some media outlets pointed out that a large number of candidates from certain factions were nominated. In the case of the Democratic Party of Korea, 45% of its candidates for the 21st general election were replaced. Approximately 110 candidates, primarily those sympathetic to Lee Jae-myung, received nominations. As a result, after the 22nd general election, the Democratic Party of Korea became a party dominated by those who supported Lee Jae-myung.