List of presidents of South Korea

To avoid confusion, all the names on this list follow the Eastern order convention (family name first, given name second) for consistency.

Presidential Standard and Seal of the President of South Korea

• Top left: Rhee Syng-man became the first President of the Republic of Korea in 1948.
• Top right: Park Chung-hee was the longest-serving President, taking power during the 1961 coup d'etat, sometimes named the Tiger of Yushin Constitution in the 1970s.
• Bottom left: Kim Dae-jung was elected during the 1997 presidential election. This was the first peaceful change of regime in South Korean history.
• Bottom right: Moon Jae-in, the incumbent officeholder, has held office since 2017.

Since the establishment of the Government of the Republic of Korea, commonly known as South Korea, in 1948, twelve people have served nineteen terms as president of South Korea. Under the Constitution of South Korea, the president is the country's head of state as well as its head of government. The president is also the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.

Prior to the establishment of the First Republic in 1948, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea established in Shanghai in September 1919 as the continuation of several governments proclaimed in the aftermath of March 1st Movement earlier that year coordinated Korean people's resistance against Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea. The legitimacy of the Provisional Government has been recognised and succeeded by South Korea in the latter's original Constitution of 1948 and the current Constitution of 1988. Nine people have served twenty-four terms as Heads of State (with varying titles) of the Provisional Government between September 1919 and August 1948.

The presidential term has been set at five years since 1988. It was previously set at four years from 1948 to 1972, six years from 1972 to 1981, and seven years from 1981 to 1988. Since 1981, the president has been barred from reelection. The president must be a South Korean citizen, at least 40 years old, who has lived in South Korea for 5 years.

List of presidents

Political parties
Conservative (Current People Power Party)   Liberal (Current Democratic Party)   Military   Independent
Status
Denotes acting president

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party	Term (Election)
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Rhee Syng-man 이승만 李承晩 (1875–1965)	24 July 1948	27 April 1960	11 years, 279 days	National Association → Liberal	1 (1948)
							2 (1952)
							3 (1956)
Minister of Foreign Affairs Heo Jeong as acting president (27 April 1960 ~ 15 June 1960)
Speaker of the National Assembly Kwak Sang-hoon as acting president (16 June 1960 ~ 23 June 1960)
Prime Minister Heo Jeong as acting president (23 June 1960 ~ 7 August 1960)
Speaker of the National Assembly Paek Nak-chun as acting president (8 August 1960 ~ 12 August 1960)
2		Yun Po-sun 윤보선 尹潽善 (1897–1990)	12 August 1960	22 March 1962	1 year, 225 days	Democratic → New Democratic	4 (1960)
Chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction Park Chung-hee as acting president (22 March 1962 ~ 16 December 1963)
3		Park Chung-hee 박정희 朴正熙 (1917–1979)	17 December 1963	26 October 1979	15 years, 314 days	Democratic Republican	5 (1963)
							6 (1967)
							7 (1971)
							8 (1972)
							9 (1978)
Prime Minister Choi Kyu-hah as acting president (26 October 1979 ~ 6 December 1979)
4		Choi Kyu-hah 최규하 崔圭夏 (1919–2006)	6 December 1979	16 August 1980	255 days	Independent	10 (1979)
Acting Prime Minister Park Choong-hoon as acting president (16 August 1980 ~ 27 August 1980)
5		Chun Doo-hwan 전두환 全斗煥 (born 1931)	27 August 1980	25 February 1988	7 years, 182 days	Democratic Justice	11 (1980)
							12 (1981)
6		Roh Tae-woo 노태우 盧泰愚 (1932–2021)	25 February 1988	25 February 1993	5 years	Democratic Justice → Democratic Liberal → Independent	13 (1987)
7		Kim Young-sam 김영삼 金泳三 (1927–2015)	25 February 1993	25 February 1998	5 years	Democratic Liberal → New Korea → Independent	14 (1992)
8		Kim Dae-jung 김대중 金大中 (1924–2009)	25 February 1998	25 February 2003	5 years	National Congress → Millennium Democratic → Independent	15 (1997)
9		Roh Moo-hyun 노무현 盧武鉉 (1946–2009)	25 February 2003	25 February 2008	5 years	Millennium Democratic → Independent → Uri → Independent	16 (2002)
10		Lee Myung-bak 이명박 李明博 (born 1941)	25 February 2008	25 February 2013	5 years	Grand National → Saenuri	17 (2007)
11		Park Geun-hye 박근혜 朴槿惠 (born 1952)	25 February 2013	10 March 2017	4 years, 14 days	Saenuri → Liberty Korea	18 (2012)
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn as acting president (10 March 2017 ~ 10 May 2017)
12		Moon Jae-in 문재인 文在寅 (born 1953)	10 May 2017	Incumbent	4 years, 195 days	Democratic	19 (2017)

Timeline

Ideology		#	Years	Name(s)
	Conservative	8	54 years, 59 days	Rhee Syng-man, Park Chung-hee, Choi Kyu-hah, Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam, Lee Myung-bak, Park Geun-hye
	Liberal	4	16 years, 225 days	Yun Po-sun, Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, Moon Jae-in

Presidents by age

#	President	Born	Age at start of presidency	Age at end of presidency	Post-presidency timespan	Lifespan
						Died	Age
01	Rhee Syng-man	Mar 26, 1875	73 years, 120 days Jul 24, 1948	85 years, 31 days Apr 26, 1960	5 years, 84 days	Jul 19, 1965	90 years, 115 days
02	Yun Bo-seon	Aug 26, 1897	62 years, 352 days Aug 12, 1960	64 years, 210 days Mar 24, 1962	28 years, 116 days	Jul 18, 1990	92 years, 326 days
03	Park Chung-hee	Nov 14, 1917	46 years, 33 days Dec 17, 1963	61 years, 346 days Oct 26, 1979	N/A Died in office	Oct 26, 1979	61 years, 346 days
04	Choi Kyu-hah	Jul 16, 1919	60 years, 143 days Dec 6, 1979	61 years, 31 days Aug 16, 1980	26 years, 67 days	Oct 22, 2006	87 years, 98 days
05	Chun Doo-hwan	Mar 6, 1931	49 years, 174 days Aug 27, 1980	56 years, 355 days Feb 24, 1988	33 years, 269 days	2021-11-20(living)	90 years, 306 days
06	Roh Tae-woo	Dec 4, 1932	55 years, 83 days Feb 25, 1988	60 years, 82 days Feb 24, 1993	28 years, 244 days	Oct 26, 2021	88 years, 326 days
07	Kim Young-sam	Dec 20, 1927	65 years, 67 days Feb 25, 1993	70 years, 66 days Feb 24, 1998	17 years, 271 days	Nov 22, 2015	87 years, 337 days
08	Kim Dae-jung	Jan 6, 1924	74 years, 50 days Feb 25, 1998	79 years, 49 days Feb 24, 2003	6 years, 175 days	Aug 18, 2009	85 years, 224 days
09	Roh Moo-hyun	Sep 1, 1946	56 years, 177 days Feb 25, 2003	61 years, 176 days Feb 24, 2008	1 year, 88 days	May 23, 2009	62 years, 264 days
10	Lee Myung-bak	Dec 19, 1941	66 years, 68 days Feb 25, 2008	71 years, 67 days Feb 24, 2013	8 years, 269 days	2021-11-20(living)	79 years, 336 days
11	Park Geun-hye	Feb 2, 1952	61 years, 23 days Feb 25, 2013	65 years, 36 days Mar 10, 2017	4 years, 255 days	2021-11-20(living)	69 years, 291 days
12	Moon Jae-in	Jan 24, 1953	64 years, 106 days May 10, 2017	68 years, 300 days(incumbent)	(incumbent)	2021-11-20(living)	68 years, 300 days
#	President	Born	Age at start of presidency	Age at end of presidency	Post-presidency timespan	Died	Age
						Lifespan

See also

• Elections in South Korea § Presidential elections
• Government of South Korea
• Lifespan timeline of presidents of South Korea
• List of prime ministers of South Korea
• List of presidents of South Korea by time in office
• List of monarchs of Korea
• List of presidents of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
• Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
• Vice President of South Korea