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HRF classifies South Korea as democratic.
South Korea (Republic of Korea) is a constitutional republic headed by the president, who holds the highest executive authority and is directly elected. The 1987 constitution mandates direct election of the national assembly every four years. From 1948 to the 1980s, South Korea was under authoritarian rule, both under its former presidents and military dictators. However, since the late 1980s, South Korea has witnessed peaceful transfers of power following each democratic national election. Election results remain highly competitive with thin margins, as seen during the 2022 presidential elections when former President Yoon Suk-yeol won by a mere 0.73 percent margin with 48.56 percent of the total votes.
On December 3, 2024, then-President Yoon Suk-yeol declared an emergency martial law in the country, citing opposition lawmakers’ “anti-state” activities. This was the first declaration of martial law since South Korea’s transition to democracy, and the 17th in the country’s history. The declaration created a state of political crisis as democratic norms were severely threatened and was revoked six hours later when lawmakers immediately voted to reject it amid nationwide protests. The President was suspended and charged with impeachment. In April 2025, President Yoon’s impeachment was upheld by the country’s constitutional court. In June 2025, presidential elections were held in South Korea, with the Democratic Party of Korea’s candidate Lee Jae-myung emerging as the victor in the competitive elections. Following the martial law declaration and the recent elections, institutional reforms under constitutional norms prevail in the country, upholding determined democratic action to prevent authoritarian tendencies.
National elections are free and fair in South Korea. Political opposition parties and candidates can run and compete in elections freely without coercion or interference and on reasonably equal footing as the incumbent party. Elections are overseen by a statutory constitutional body. The elections are competitive, with a regular and peaceful transfer of power between the opposition and the main party, and each one obtaining narrow vote shares.
Independent media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public are largely free to openly criticize or challenge the government. There is a vibrant public debate and criticism of policies, with diverse critical voices expressing challenges to the government without repression. There is no direct censorship of speech or dissent by the current government.
Institutions in South Korea are independent and largely serve as effective checks on the government. Rule of law prevails in the country where institutions hold government officials accountable. The courts and the legislature adhere to constitutional norms, including checks and balances on the government (executive), and act as reliable safeguards against the abuse of power, ensuring accountability and transparency.
In South Korea, national elections are largely free and fair. The elections remain highly competitive, where all political parties and candidates compete in elections on an equal footing without facing unfair bans. The current government, led by President Lee, does not undermine electoral oversight of the National Election Commission (NEC), which remains a constitutionally independent body. The government does not skew the electoral playing field in its favor, and so legislative and presidential elections remain competitive and intense among liberal and conservative parties.
The DPK government has not unfairly barred a real, mainstream opposition party or candidate from competing in elections. The country’s intense electoral competition can be witnessed in the frequent transfer of power between conservative and liberal parties since the 1990s. On June 3, 2025, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) won the latest Presidential elections that followed the impeachment of former President Yoon Seok-yeol due to his martial law declaration in December 2024. Lee Jae-myung’s administration has not banned any opposition parties or candidates. During the Yoon administration in 2024, Lee Jae-myung (then an opposition candidate) was convicted of local election law violations and was given a one-year prison sentence that barred him from running for presidential elections. However, the verdict was reversed at appeal in March 2025.
The democratically elected government has not been overthrown through a coup d’état. The legislature and judiciary promptly held the executive accountable for unconstitutional actions. Following the former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law in December 2024, the National Assembly convened an emergency session in accordance with its constitutional provision. 190 members of the National Assembly unanimously rejected the martial law decree, and President Yoon announced its reversal shortly thereafter. Senior leaders of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) also aimed to stabilize the political crisis that ensued by joining the opposition and unanimously rejecting his decree. The national assembly voted for his impeachment in December 2024, and the constitutional court upheld its decision by ruling in favour of Yoon’s impeachment and permanently removing him from office with no possibility of appeal. PPP announced its acceptance of the court ruling, and the then-acting President Han Duck-soo prompted citizens and politicians to maintain peace. A ruling scheduled for February 19, 2026, will decide whether he will be sentenced to the death penalty over the charge of rebellion due to the martial law enactment.
The DPK-led government has not seriously undermined independent electoral oversight. South Korea’s NEC is a statutory independent body that manages elections nationwide, including their schedules, drawing up districts, enacting laws, reviewing party registrations, etc. Election observers commended the NEC in the June 2025 Presidential elections for its measures to ensure inclusive and accessible voting. In 2023, the NEC faced allegations of unfair hiring practices and was inspected by the country’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) and the anti-corruption commission. While BAI’s audit report from January 2025 found 878 regulation violations in NEC hiring and promotions, the constitutional court ruled the audit unconstitutional as the NEC is an independent constitutional body outside the purview of BAI’s audits.
The government has not skewed the electoral playing field so much that it generally wins elections with a very high vote share. Legislative elections in South Korea remain highly competitive. In 2024, Lee Jae-myung’s DPK won legislative elections over the then-President Yoon’s PPP. In the June 2025 presidential elections, Lee Jae-myung (from DPK) received 49.2 percent of the vote while Kim Moon-soo (from PPP) received 41.2 percent of the vote. The latest presidential elections received the highest voter turnout since 1997 at 79.4 percent, following the political crisis that ensued from the martial law enactment by Yoon.
In South Korea, independent media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public are largely free to openly criticize or challenge the government. Under President Lee’s administration, there is no intimidation of the media, civil society, or the public. Protests across the country are ubiquitous, with political groups across ideological lines continuing to protest and conduct rallies without repression from the government. There is no direct censorship of speech by the government.
Under the DPK-led government, there is no serious intimidation or obstruction to the work of independent and dissenting media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, or members of the general public. Lee Jae-myung’s administration is on the path towards restoring democratic faith following the December 2024 martial law declaration by former President Yoon. Citizen protests, civic engagement, and dissent from opposing parties, media, and the general public remain strong. Following the martial law declaration, citizens across the country peacefully protested against the Yoon administration as it posed a direct threat to democracy, rights, and freedom. The short duration of the martial law curbed press freedom, where some journalists were denied access to their newsroom by the military.
The current government, led by President Lee, has not seriously and unfairly repressed protests or gatherings. There is no demonstrated repression of protests by the current government in South Korea. Protests across the country are ubiquitous and frequent. During December 2024, more than one million people gathered to oppose the Yoon administration’s attempt at martial law. Protests continue after the presidential elections, focused on former President Yoon’s trial and verdict, such as in April 2025. On the other hand, protests and rallies in favour of Yoon also exist, where, in December 2025, thousands of young men and women joined a rally organized by Freedom University, a right-wing group.
The government has not seriously and unfairly censored dissenting speech. There is no direct censorship of speech or dissent by the South Korean government under President Lee. In December 2025, the Ministry of Unification lifted the ban on North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, under the current government’s initiative towards gradual relaxation of restrictions on Pyongyang’s publications. President Lee’s government aims to allow public access to North Korean publications and websites by reclassifying them as “general publications” from “special,” citing citizens’ right to know and the academic value of the materials. In 2025, over 60 North Korean-related websites, including the regime’s primary mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency, remain banned across South Korea. On the other hand, in December 2025, President Lee’s DPK-led legislature also passed a bill in the National Assembly that allows heavy punitive damages against internet media and traditional news for publishing “false or fabricated information.” Civil liberty advocates and journalists fear that the government brushed away concerns of potential censorship under this bill due to its vague terminology over what information could be banned. The National Union of Media Workers urged President Lee’s government to address these concerns, where regulations of “hate speech” and fake news could infringe upon freedom of expression and could lead to drastic lawsuits against media companies. In December 2025, the legislature also passed a revised bill that prohibits the dispersal of informational “anti-North Korea” leaflets across the border. The DPK legislature used an alternative legal framework since a similar bill was struck down by the constitutional court in 2023. The leaflets are critical efforts of defectors and activists to send information to people in North Korea.
South Korea’s institutions are independent and largely serve as effective checks on the government. Rule of law prevails in the country, and institutions operate autonomously to uphold democratic principles. The South Korean courts frequently check on the government in its attempts to repress any criticism. It upholds and protects constitutional laws on freedom of dissent. Judicial, legislative, and executive institutions hold government officials accountable.
Courts have not frequently and unfairly failed to check, or enabled the government’s attempts to repress criticism or retaliate against those who express open opposition to its most prominent, widely publicized policies. South Korean courts are assertive in upholding freedom to dissent against successive governments. This is witnessed in cases such as Park Yu-ha’s defamation case, a professor at Sejong University, convicted of criminal defamation in 2017 for claims about “comfort women” during World War II. The Supreme Court in October 2024 overturned her conviction, ruling that her statements fell within the scope of academic freedom. In instances of defamation cases against journalists, the courts did not order arrests or detention of individuals, irrespective of the government in power. The constitutional court in 2022 publicly reviewed the National Security Act, a key legal framework that often obstructs the judiciary’s check on government overreach.
Judicial, legislative, or executive institutions have not frequently and unfairly failed to hold government officials accountable. Part of the government’s State Policy Planning Committee’s core reforms includes democratic consolidation, including prosecutorial reform. The reform comes as an outcome of decades of debate over prosecutorial overreach and political influence. The reform aims to realign the country’s criminal justice system with democratic principles of checks and balances. In September 2025, an amendment to the Government Organization Act was made, abolishing the Prosecutor’s Office and dividing prosecutorial and investigative powers between two new agencies: the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) under the Ministry of Justice and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (SCIA) under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. This codification of division between prosecutorial and investigative powers reshapes the power balance within the executive branch. In April 2025, South Korea’s constitutional court upheld President Yoon’s impeachment in an 118-page unanimous decision, which protected a disruption to the legal justice system. The court declared that Yoon’s declaration was unconstitutional and accepted all five counts of impeachment declared by the national assembly, the country’s legislative branch. The decision seeks to protect judicial autonomy and constitutional protection essential for democratic stability. President Yoon is to be prosecuted within the South Korean court system, where he stands for trial in February 2026, awaiting verdicts that could include imprisonment and the death penalty. Yoon stands for trial in the context of a country that has witnessed a pattern of heads of state receiving special presidential pardons when aligned parties are in government, including absolving former presidents and dictators convicted of corruption and abuses of power; or under highly politicized investigations facing lengthy sentences once oppositional parties rise to power, creating a perpetual “cycle of revenge” against former leaders.
HRF classifies South Korea as democratic.
South Korea (Republic of Korea) is a constitutional republic headed by the president, who holds the highest executive authority and is directly elected. The 1987 constitution mandates direct election of the national assembly every four years. From 1948 to the 1980s, South Korea was under authoritarian rule, both under its former presidents and military dictators. However, since the late 1980s, South Korea has witnessed peaceful transfers of power following each democratic national election. Election results remain highly competitive with thin margins, as seen during the 2022 presidential elections when former President Yoon Suk-yeol won by a mere 0.73 percent margin with 48.56 percent of the total votes.
On December 3, 2024, then-President Yoon Suk-yeol declared an emergency martial law in the country, citing opposition lawmakers’ “anti-state” activities. This was the first declaration of martial law since South Korea’s transition to democracy, and the 17th in the country’s history. The declaration created a state of political crisis as democratic norms were severely threatened and was revoked six hours later when lawmakers immediately voted to reject it amid nationwide protests. The President was suspended and charged with impeachment. In April 2025, President Yoon’s impeachment was upheld by the country’s constitutional court. In June 2025, presidential elections were held in South Korea, with the Democratic Party of Korea’s candidate Lee Jae-myung emerging as the victor in the competitive elections. Following the martial law declaration and the recent elections, institutional reforms under constitutional norms prevail in the country, upholding determined democratic action to prevent authoritarian tendencies.
National elections are free and fair in South Korea. Political opposition parties and candidates can run and compete in elections freely without coercion or interference and on reasonably equal footing as the incumbent party. Elections are overseen by a statutory constitutional body. The elections are competitive, with a regular and peaceful transfer of power between the opposition and the main party, and each one obtaining narrow vote shares.
Independent media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public are largely free to openly criticize or challenge the government. There is a vibrant public debate and criticism of policies, with diverse critical voices expressing challenges to the government without repression. There is no direct censorship of speech or dissent by the current government.
Institutions in South Korea are independent and largely serve as effective checks on the government. Rule of law prevails in the country where institutions hold government officials accountable. The courts and the legislature adhere to constitutional norms, including checks and balances on the government (executive), and act as reliable safeguards against the abuse of power, ensuring accountability and transparency.
In South Korea, national elections are largely free and fair. The elections remain highly competitive, where all political parties and candidates compete in elections on an equal footing without facing unfair bans. The current government, led by President Lee, does not undermine electoral oversight of the National Election Commission (NEC), which remains a constitutionally independent body. The government does not skew the electoral playing field in its favor, and so legislative and presidential elections remain competitive and intense among liberal and conservative parties.
The DPK government has not unfairly barred a real, mainstream opposition party or candidate from competing in elections. The country’s intense electoral competition can be witnessed in the frequent transfer of power between conservative and liberal parties since the 1990s. On June 3, 2025, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) won the latest Presidential elections that followed the impeachment of former President Yoon Seok-yeol due to his martial law declaration in December 2024. Lee Jae-myung’s administration has not banned any opposition parties or candidates. During the Yoon administration in 2024, Lee Jae-myung (then an opposition candidate) was convicted of local election law violations and was given a one-year prison sentence that barred him from running for presidential elections. However, the verdict was reversed at appeal in March 2025.
The democratically elected government has not been overthrown through a coup d’état. The legislature and judiciary promptly held the executive accountable for unconstitutional actions. Following the former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law in December 2024, the National Assembly convened an emergency session in accordance with its constitutional provision. 190 members of the National Assembly unanimously rejected the martial law decree, and President Yoon announced its reversal shortly thereafter. Senior leaders of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) also aimed to stabilize the political crisis that ensued by joining the opposition and unanimously rejecting his decree. The national assembly voted for his impeachment in December 2024, and the constitutional court upheld its decision by ruling in favour of Yoon’s impeachment and permanently removing him from office with no possibility of appeal. PPP announced its acceptance of the court ruling, and the then-acting President Han Duck-soo prompted citizens and politicians to maintain peace. A ruling scheduled for February 19, 2026, will decide whether he will be sentenced to the death penalty over the charge of rebellion due to the martial law enactment.
The DPK-led government has not seriously undermined independent electoral oversight. South Korea’s NEC is a statutory independent body that manages elections nationwide, including their schedules, drawing up districts, enacting laws, reviewing party registrations, etc. Election observers commended the NEC in the June 2025 Presidential elections for its measures to ensure inclusive and accessible voting. In 2023, the NEC faced allegations of unfair hiring practices and was inspected by the country’s Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) and the anti-corruption commission. While BAI’s audit report from January 2025 found 878 regulation violations in NEC hiring and promotions, the constitutional court ruled the audit unconstitutional as the NEC is an independent constitutional body outside the purview of BAI’s audits.
The government has not skewed the electoral playing field so much that it generally wins elections with a very high vote share. Legislative elections in South Korea remain highly competitive. In 2024, Lee Jae-myung’s DPK won legislative elections over the then-President Yoon’s PPP. In the June 2025 presidential elections, Lee Jae-myung (from DPK) received 49.2 percent of the vote while Kim Moon-soo (from PPP) received 41.2 percent of the vote. The latest presidential elections received the highest voter turnout since 1997 at 79.4 percent, following the political crisis that ensued from the martial law enactment by Yoon.
In South Korea, independent media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public are largely free to openly criticize or challenge the government. Under President Lee’s administration, there is no intimidation of the media, civil society, or the public. Protests across the country are ubiquitous, with political groups across ideological lines continuing to protest and conduct rallies without repression from the government. There is no direct censorship of speech by the government.
Under the DPK-led government, there is no serious intimidation or obstruction to the work of independent and dissenting media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, or members of the general public. Lee Jae-myung’s administration is on the path towards restoring democratic faith following the December 2024 martial law declaration by former President Yoon. Citizen protests, civic engagement, and dissent from opposing parties, media, and the general public remain strong. Following the martial law declaration, citizens across the country peacefully protested against the Yoon administration as it posed a direct threat to democracy, rights, and freedom. The short duration of the martial law curbed press freedom, where some journalists were denied access to their newsroom by the military.
The current government, led by President Lee, has not seriously and unfairly repressed protests or gatherings. There is no demonstrated repression of protests by the current government in South Korea. Protests across the country are ubiquitous and frequent. During December 2024, more than one million people gathered to oppose the Yoon administration’s attempt at martial law. Protests continue after the presidential elections, focused on former President Yoon’s trial and verdict, such as in April 2025. On the other hand, protests and rallies in favour of Yoon also exist, where, in December 2025, thousands of young men and women joined a rally organized by Freedom University, a right-wing group.
The government has not seriously and unfairly censored dissenting speech. There is no direct censorship of speech or dissent by the South Korean government under President Lee. In December 2025, the Ministry of Unification lifted the ban on North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, under the current government’s initiative towards gradual relaxation of restrictions on Pyongyang’s publications. President Lee’s government aims to allow public access to North Korean publications and websites by reclassifying them as “general publications” from “special,” citing citizens’ right to know and the academic value of the materials. In 2025, over 60 North Korean-related websites, including the regime’s primary mouthpiece, the Korean Central News Agency, remain banned across South Korea. On the other hand, in December 2025, President Lee’s DPK-led legislature also passed a bill in the National Assembly that allows heavy punitive damages against internet media and traditional news for publishing “false or fabricated information.” Civil liberty advocates and journalists fear that the government brushed away concerns of potential censorship under this bill due to its vague terminology over what information could be banned. The National Union of Media Workers urged President Lee’s government to address these concerns, where regulations of “hate speech” and fake news could infringe upon freedom of expression and could lead to drastic lawsuits against media companies. In December 2025, the legislature also passed a revised bill that prohibits the dispersal of informational “anti-North Korea” leaflets across the border. The DPK legislature used an alternative legal framework since a similar bill was struck down by the constitutional court in 2023. The leaflets are critical efforts of defectors and activists to send information to people in North Korea.
South Korea’s institutions are independent and largely serve as effective checks on the government. Rule of law prevails in the country, and institutions operate autonomously to uphold democratic principles. The South Korean courts frequently check on the government in its attempts to repress any criticism. It upholds and protects constitutional laws on freedom of dissent. Judicial, legislative, and executive institutions hold government officials accountable.
Courts have not frequently and unfairly failed to check, or enabled the government’s attempts to repress criticism or retaliate against those who express open opposition to its most prominent, widely publicized policies. South Korean courts are assertive in upholding freedom to dissent against successive governments. This is witnessed in cases such as Park Yu-ha’s defamation case, a professor at Sejong University, convicted of criminal defamation in 2017 for claims about “comfort women” during World War II. The Supreme Court in October 2024 overturned her conviction, ruling that her statements fell within the scope of academic freedom. In instances of defamation cases against journalists, the courts did not order arrests or detention of individuals, irrespective of the government in power. The constitutional court in 2022 publicly reviewed the National Security Act, a key legal framework that often obstructs the judiciary’s check on government overreach.
Judicial, legislative, or executive institutions have not frequently and unfairly failed to hold government officials accountable. Part of the government’s State Policy Planning Committee’s core reforms includes democratic consolidation, including prosecutorial reform. The reform comes as an outcome of decades of debate over prosecutorial overreach and political influence. The reform aims to realign the country’s criminal justice system with democratic principles of checks and balances. In September 2025, an amendment to the Government Organization Act was made, abolishing the Prosecutor’s Office and dividing prosecutorial and investigative powers between two new agencies: the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) under the Ministry of Justice and the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency (SCIA) under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. This codification of division between prosecutorial and investigative powers reshapes the power balance within the executive branch. In April 2025, South Korea’s constitutional court upheld President Yoon’s impeachment in an 118-page unanimous decision, which protected a disruption to the legal justice system. The court declared that Yoon’s declaration was unconstitutional and accepted all five counts of impeachment declared by the national assembly, the country’s legislative branch. The decision seeks to protect judicial autonomy and constitutional protection essential for democratic stability. President Yoon is to be prosecuted within the South Korean court system, where he stands for trial in February 2026, awaiting verdicts that could include imprisonment and the death penalty. Yoon stands for trial in the context of a country that has witnessed a pattern of heads of state receiving special presidential pardons when aligned parties are in government, including absolving former presidents and dictators convicted of corruption and abuses of power; or under highly politicized investigations facing lengthy sentences once oppositional parties rise to power, creating a perpetual “cycle of revenge” against former leaders.
