How Many Presidents Has South Korea Had?

Fourteen people have served as president of South Korea since the republic was founded in 1948. Today each gets a single five-year term and can never run again — a deliberately short leash. And the office has a grim pattern: an unusual number of South Korean presidents have left it through assassination, exile, prison or impeachment. The current president, Lee Jae Myung, took office on 4 June 2025.

14presidents since 1948 (one five-year term each since 1988)

Correct as of June 2026.

How the office tends to end

The count is clean; the endings are not. Switch the rule and watch the number move.

14Presidents since 1948

Fourteen people have served in full capacity as president since the office was created in 1948, beginning with Rhee Syngman. Lee Jae Myung is the 14th.

The short leash: one term, then out

South Korea's term limit is one of the strictest among major democracies. Since the Sixth Republic's 1987 constitution, a president serves a single five-year term and can never run again — no second term, no comeback. The rule was a direct answer to the country's history of strongmen, above all Park Chung Hee, who rewrote the constitution to keep himself in power for nearly 16 years until his assassination in 1979.

Count the whole history and you reach 14 presidents. Count only the democratic era under the single-term rule — from Roh Tae-woo in 1988 onward — and you reach nine. That second number is the one most people mean: the modern presidents, each handed five years and a firm exit.

Why the endings are so often brutal

Few presidencies anywhere end as badly, as often, as South Korea's. The first president, Rhee Syngman, fled into exile in 1960. Park Chung Hee was assassinated in 1979. The two military-era leaders who followed were later convicted over a coup and a massacre. Roh Moo-hyun died by suicide in 2009 amid a corruption probe. Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye both went to prison.

The pattern continues into the present. Park Geun-hye was impeached and removed in 2017. In December 2024 Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law; the National Assembly impeached him within days, and the Constitutional Court removed him in April 2025. The office that comes with a strict five-year limit also, with striking regularity, comes with a reckoning.

The democratic presidents, in order (since 1988)

The full list of 14 reaches back through the authoritarian decades to Rhee Syngman in 1948. Here is the part most people are asking about: the nine presidents of the democratic Sixth Republic, each serving a single five-year term since 1988.

The democratic era, in order

The nine presidents of the Sixth Republic since 1988. Tap a name for the detail; filter by bloc to see power swing between conservative and liberal.

Showing 9 holders

The 2024–25 crisis, in brief

The most recent upheaval was the sharpest test of the system since democratisation. On 3 December 2024 President Yoon Suk Yeol abruptly declared martial law; lawmakers forced their way into the National Assembly to vote it down within hours. On 14 December the Assembly impeached him, suspending his powers while the Constitutional Court considered the case.

What followed showed how the rules bite. The acting president, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, was himself impeached weeks later. On 4 April 2025 the court upheld Yoon's impeachment in a unanimous decision, formally ending his presidency. A snap election on 3 June 2025 was won by Lee Jae Myung, who — because the office was already vacant — was sworn in the very next day.

How much power is in the job?

The South Korean presidency concentrates enormous power into a single five-year term — and then, with unusual frequency, holds its occupants to account once it ends.

How much power does the president actually have?

The title is the easy part. The real measure is how hard the holder is to remove.

Head of state too?

Yes. South Korea has a strong executive president who is both head of state and head of government, and commander-in-chief.

How they get the job

Directly elected by the people in a single round — whoever wins the most votes nationwide becomes president.

Length of term

Five years, and only five years. Re-election has been banned since 1988, a hard limit with no exceptions.

Can be sacked mid-term?

Yes, by impeachment: a two-thirds vote in the National Assembly, then confirmation by the Constitutional Court. Park and Yoon were both removed this way.

Control of the assembly

Often divided. A president whose party lacks a National Assembly majority faces gridlock — a tension Yoon cited before his martial-law gamble.

The South Korean president holds sweeping executive power for five years — and is then genuinely finished, with no second term to chase. That same strong office is checked by an impeachment process that, unusually, has actually removed sitting presidents. Power here is concentrated, time-limited, and revocable.

In office now: Lee Jae Myung (Democratic Party)

Won the snap election of 3 June 2025, called after Yoon Suk Yeol's removal, and was sworn in the next day. He leads the liberal Democratic Party.

Office-holder correct as of June 2026.

See how this compares

A South Korean president gets five years, no re-election, and a real chance of impeachment — a sharper deal than a US president's two possible terms. Compare the office to the others on the map.

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Think you know them? Prove it

A quick quiz. The counting questions catch most people.

Question 1 of 7Score: 0

How long is a South Korean president's term today?

Sources

Wikipedia — List of presidents of South Korea and President of South Korea (14 people; the single five-year term; the three impeachments)
Wikipedia — Impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol; Impeachment of Park Geun-hye (Constitutional Court rulings)
Constitutional Court of Korea — the 4 April 2025 ruling removing Yoon Suk Yeol
Office of the President of South Korea — Lee Jae Myung, sworn in 4 June 2025
Natural Earth public-domain country data (via world-atlas), used on the Leaders of the World map

Fourteen presidents, a five-year limit that never bends, and a roll-call of exiles, assassinations and impeachments — in South Korea the hardest part of the presidency is not winning it, but surviving it.