🇰🇷South Korea

South Korea (the Republic of Korea) is a presidential republic in East Asia and one of Asia's most robust democracies, having transitioned from military authoritarian rule to free elections in 1987. The president is directly elected for a single five-year term and cannot be re-elected; the 300-seat unicameral National Assembly (Gukhoe) is elected every four years by a parallel mixed system combining single-member constituencies with proportional-representation seats. Politics is dominated by two large blocs: the liberal Democratic Party (Deobureo Minju Party) and the conservative People Power Party (PPP), with smaller forces such as the Rebuilding Korea Party, the Reform Party, the Progressive Party and the Justice Party. The 2020s were exceptionally turbulent: conservative Yoon Suk-yeol won the presidency in 2022, but his short-lived martial-law declaration in December 2024 triggered impeachment and removal, and the liberal Lee Jae-myung won the snap presidential election of 3 June 2025. Beyond national contests, South Korea holds nationwide local elections every four years to choose the mayors and governors of its 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, thousands of local councillors, and education superintendents — the most recent being the 9th local elections of 3 June 2026, a sweeping win for the governing Democratic Party. Elections are administered by the independent National Election Commission (NEC, nec.go.kr), whose preliminary and certified results are regarded as transparent and reliable. South Korea is a member of the OECD, the G20 and a major US treaty ally, and consistently ranks among the world's strongest democracies.