The history of South Korea begins with the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. At that time, South Korea and North Korea were divided, despite being the same people and on the same peninsula. In 1950, the Korean War broke out. North Korea overran South Korea until US-led UN forces intervened. At the end of the war in 1953, the border between South and North remained largely similar. Tensions between the two sides continued. South Korea alternated between dictatorship and liberal democracy. It underwent substantial economic development.
Kim Dae-jung was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the 8th president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003.
The Sunshine Policy is one of the approaches for South Korea's foreign policy towards North Korea.
The Supreme People's Assembly is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified power. However, in practice it is a rubber stamp legislature which exists to approve decisions made by the ruling party as a formality, and which has little to no real power of its own.
Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2002. The result was a victory for Roh Moo-Hyun of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, who defeated Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party by just over half a million votes.
Park Geun-hye is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, when she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges.
Paik Haksoon is the Founding President of the Academy of Kim Dae-jung Studies established by the Kim Dae-jung Foundation in Seoul, Korea. Kim Dae-jung was the 15th President of the Republic of Korea and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2000.
Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 12 April 1996. The result was a victory for the New Korea Party, which won 139 of the 299 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was 63.9%. Although the New Korea Party remained the largest party in the National Assembly, it failed to win the majority.
Moon Jae-in is a South Korean politician who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs and Chief of Staff to President Roh Moo-hyun, Member of the National Assembly, and Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.
The Justice Party is a centre-left to left-wing political party in South Korea. It has been described as liberal and progressive. It was founded on 21 October 2012 when the former New Progressive Party faction, former People's Participation Party faction, and moderates in the Unified Progressive Party split from the Unified Progressive Party. The Justice Party now takes a more moderate stance than the United Progressive Party or the Democratic Labor Party in the past. The Justice Party temporarily changed its name to, "Green-Justice Party" (Korean: 녹색정의당) on 30 January 2024 in an electoral pact with the Green Party Korea for the 2024 South Korean legislative election. On 25 April 2024 election, the party reverted back to its original name.
The Democratic Party of Korea, formerly known as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, is a centrist-liberal South Korean political party. The DPK and its rival, the People Power Party (PPP), form the two major political parties of South Korea.
The People Party was a centrist political party in South Korea established on 2 February 2016 by Ahn Cheol-soo. The party had a strong support base in the Honam region. The party dissolved on 13 February 2018. A later party of the same name was also founded by Ahn and was active from 2020 to 2022.
The 2016 South Korean political scandal, often called Park Geun-hye–Choi Soon-sil Gate in South Korea, was a scandal that emerged around October 2016 in relation to the unusual access that Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of shaman-esque cult leader Choi Tae-min, had to President Park Geun-hye of South Korea.
Lee Nak-yon, also known as Lee Nak-yeon, is a South Korean politician who served as the 41st Prime Minister of South Korea from 2017 to 2020. A member of the New Reform Party, he is the longest-serving prime minister since the Constitution of South Korea was last revised in 1987. Lee previously held the governorship of South Jeolla Province province from 2014 to 2017, a stronghold of his party. Before serving as governor, he worked as a journalist for over 20 years and served as a member of the National Assembly for four terms.
Kim Jin-pyo is a South Korean politician who previously served as a government minister under two liberal Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun and has represented Suwon at the National Assembly since 2004. He has dedicated his career in public service as a public servant for 30 years and then as government minister and a parliamentarian. He belongs to the more conservative wing of the liberal Democratic Party.
Choi Gyung-hwan is a South Korean activist and politician. He is the Member of the National Assembly for Gwangju North 2nd constituency since 2016 and the President of the New Alternatives since 2020. Prior to these careers, he was the Presidential Secretary and the last aide for the ex-President of the Republic Kim Dae-jung.
Choi Hye-young is a South Korean educator and politician serving as the Member of the National Assembly since 2020.
Kim Young-joo is a South Korean politician and former basketball player previously served as President Moon Jae-in's first Minister of Employment and Labor from 2017 to 2018. She is the first woman to lead the Labour Ministry since its foundation in 1981 and its preceding agency in 1948.
Choi Jieun is a South Korean economist and politician. She served as the spokesperson for and senior policy advisor to Lee Jae Myung, the previous presidential candidate of the Democratic party and current party leader. Also, Choi is an adjunct professor at Seoul National University and a member of the Presidential Policy Planning Committee under the Moon Jae In administration. Before entering politics in 2020, Choi worked as a senior economist at the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
