Politics of the Republic of Korea takes place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. 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 five major revisions, each signifying a new republic. The current Sixth Republic began with the last major constitutional revision in 1987.
The head of state is the president, who is elected by direct popular vote for a single five-year[1] term. The president is Commander-in-Chief of the armed force of South Korea 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.
The National Assembly (국회, 國會, gukhoe) has 300 members, elected for a four-year term, 244 members in single-seat constituencies and 56 members byproportional representation.
The South Korean judiciary is independent of the other two branches. The highest judiciary body is the Supreme Court, whose justices are appointed by the president with the consent of the National Assembly. In addition, the Constitutional Court oversees questions of constitutionality. South Korea has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
Political parties and elections
For other political parties see Political parties in South Korea. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in South Korea.
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, 246 members in single-seat constituencies and 54 members by proportional representation.
The main political parties in South Korea are the Saenuri Party(NFP), the New Politics Alliance for Democracy(NPAD, former Democratic Party), the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), and the Justice Party. The conservative Saenuri Party and the more liberal Democrats(NPAD) are the dominant forces of South Korean politics. The socialist UPP is aligned with labour unions and farmers groups. But UPP was torn into two parties after 2012 election, and 6 of 13 MPs of UPP formed the Justice Party.
- Structure of National Assembly as of 15 August 2014.
- Conservatives(NFP) : 158(+1)
- Liberals(NPAD) : 130(+3)
- Progressive(UPP, JP) : 10(-3)
- Independents : 2(pro-NFP)
| Turnout 54.3% | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parties | Local seats | ± | Block seats | ± | Constituency votes | % | PR block votes | % | Total seats | ± | |
| Saenuri Party (새누리당) (NFP) 1 | 127 | -10 | 25 | -5 | 9,324,911 | 43.3% | 9,130,651 | 42.8% | 152 | -15 | |
| Democratic United Party (민주통합당) (DUP) | 106 | +40 | 21 | +6 | 8,156,045 | 37.9% | 7,777,123 | 36.5% | 127 | +46 | |
| Unified Progressive Party (통합진보당) (UPP) | 7 | +5 | 6 | +3 | 1,291,306 | 6.0% | 2,198,405 | 10.3% | 13 | +8 | |
| Liberty Forward Party (자유선진당) (LFP) | 3 | -11 | 2 | -2 | 474,001 | 2.2% | 690,754 | 3.2% | 5 | -13 | |
| New Progressive Party (진보신당) (NPP) | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 101,614 | 0.5% | 243,065 | 1.1% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Korea Vision Party (국민생각) (KVP) | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 44,379 | 0.2% | 156,241 | 0.7% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Creative Korea Party (창조한국당) (CKP) | 0 | -1 | 0 | -2 | 3,624 | 0.0% | 91,935 | 0.4% | 0 | -3 | |
| Other parties | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ±0 | 132,709 | 0.6% | 1,043,887 | 5.0% | 0 | ±0 | |
| Independents | 3 | -22 | — | — | 2,016,737 | 9.4% | — | — | 3 | -22 | |
| Total | 246 | 54 | 21,545,326 | 100.0% | 21,332,061 | 100.0% | 300 | ||||
| Ideology | |||||||||||
| Conservative (NFP, LFP, KVP) | 130 | -21 | 27 | -7 | 9,843,291 | 45.7% | 9,977,646 | 46.7% | 157 | -28 | |
| Liberal (DUP, CKP) | 106 | +39 | 21 | +4 | 8,159,669 | 37.9% | 7,869,058 | 36.9% | 127 | +43 | |
| Progressive (UPP, NPP) | 7 | +5 | 6 | +3 | 1,392,920 | 6.5% | 2,441,470 | 11.4% | 13 | +8 | |
| Total | 246 | 54 | 19,395,880 | 90.1% | 20,288,174 | 95.0% | 300 | ||||
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