Government of South Korea

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Government of the Republic of Korea

Emblem of the Government of South Korea
Formation	11 April 1919; 105 years ago (1919-04-11) (Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea) 15 August 1948; 76 years ago (1948-08-15) (First Republic) 25 February 1988; 36 years ago (1988-02-25) (current form)
Jurisdiction	South Korea
Website	www.gov.kr
Legislative branch
Legislature	National Assembly
Meeting place	National Assembly Building
Executive branch
Leader	President
Headquarters	Yongsan District, Seoul
Main organ	State Council
Departments	19
Judicial branch
Court	Supreme Court
Seat	Seocho District, Seoul
Court	Constitutional Court
Seat	Jongno District, Seoul

This article is part of a series on
Politics of South Korea
Government Constitution of South Korea Law Human rights
Legislature National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo (I) Deputy Speaker Kim Young-joo (P) Deputy Speaker Chung Jin-suk (P) Members
Executive President of South Korea Yoon Suk-yeol (P) Prime Minister of South Korea Han Duck-soo (I) State Council Administrative divisions
Judiciary Supreme Court of Korea Chief Justice Jo Hee-de Constitutional Court of Korea President Lee Jong-seok
Elections Presidential elections Legislative elections Local elections By-elections
Political parties Democratic PPP Basic Income Party
Korean conflict Reunification Sunshine Policy
South Korea portal Other countries
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The government of South Korea is the national government of the Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of state and is the highest figure of executive authority in the country, followed by the prime minister and government ministers in decreasing order.^[1]

The Executive and Legislative branches operate primarily at the national level, although various ministries in the executive branch also carry out local functions. Local governments are semi-autonomous and contain executive and legislative bodies of their own. The judicial branch operates at both the national and local levels. The South Korean government's structure is determined by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea. This document has been revised several times since its first promulgation in 1948 (for details, see History of South Korea). However, it has retained many broad characteristics; with the exception of the short-lived Second Republic of South Korea, the country has always had a relatively independent chief executive in the form of a president.

As with most stable three-branch systems, a careful system of checks and balances is in place. For instance, the judges of the Constitutional Court are partially appointed by the executive, and partially by the legislature. Likewise, when a resolution of impeachment is passed by the legislature, it is sent to the judiciary for a final decision.