This article lists the prime ministers of South Korea, from the First Republic founded in 1948 to the present-day Sixth Republic.
The current prime minister is Kim Min-seok, he was approved by the National Assembly on 3 July 2025 after being appointed by President Lee Jae Myung.
The First Republic was founded on 15 August 1948, as the first independent republican government in Korea. A bicameral legislature under a Presidential system was established, and Syngman Rhee was elected as the first president. During this period, Rhee centralized the operation of the state under his administration, with any constitutional checks the Prime Minister was to provide being superseded under his increasingly authoritarian control. This period of autocracy came to an end in 1960 when a student revolt known as the April Revolution forced the resignation of Rhee.
Following the collapse of RheeâÂÂs administration. Ho Chong served as prime minister under a caretaker government to develop a new constitution. This new system diminished the role of President to a ceremonial head of state while elevating the role of Prime Minister to the head of government under a parliamentary system. As leader of the Rhee opposition, Chang Myon was elected by the House of Representatives to be the new Prime Minister.
The change in government brought about by the end of the First Republic failed to immediately address growing economic concerns, and the loosening of democratic processes produced growing political instability. Major general Park Chung Hee of the ROK Army led a coup dâÂÂetat against the Second Republic, and established a military junta, with himself as de facto dictator.
Facing international diplomatic pressure from its allies, Park pledged to hold democratic elections and stepped down from his military position to run in the 1963 presidential election which he won. A new system of government was inaugurated, under a unicameral legislature which restored the Presidency to the head of government above the Prime Minister.
Under the terms of the Third Republic, the president was limited to two terms in office. However in 1969, Park pushed through an amendment which allowed him to run for a third term in 1971.ÃÂ His Democratic Republican Party, while still taking a majority of the National Assembly, fell short of the two-thirds majority required to push through more constitutional amendments. In October 1972, in what's known as the October Restoration, Park declared martial law and dissolved the National Assembly. A new constitution, the Yushin Constitution, was drafted which further expanded the presidential powers and solidified Park's status as dictator.
On 26 October 1979, President Park was assassinated by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) Kim Jae-gyu. As Prime minister, Choi Kyu-hah became acting president and began promising a repeal of the Yushin Constitution and a return to democratic elections. However, the military staged a series of coups in December 1979 and May 1980 through which Choi was reduced to a figure-head status until his resignation in August 1980. The leader of the coups, Chun Doo-hwan was then elected president and a new constitution was established, that while nominally less authoritarian still granted the president the ability to suspend civil liberties under "emergency powers".
In response to a growing anti-government movement known as the June Democratic Struggle, in 1987, free and open elections were held for the first time since the Second Republic. A new constitution was approved and the current political structure of the nation was established.