Prime Minister of South Korea

The **Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea** (국무총리 / 國務總理, _Gungmuchongni_) is appointed by the President of South Korea, with the National Assembly's approval. The officeholder is not required to be a member of the National Assembly. The Prime Minister is not the head of government but is similar to that of a vice president.

The Sino-Korean word _gungmu_ (/) means "state affairs" and _chongni_ (/) means "prime minister", "premier" or "chancellor", so the full title in Korean means literally "Prime Minister for State Affairs", but it is not used as official English title. The short title in Korean is just _Chongni_.

## List of prime ministers

|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Portrait|rowspan="2" width="18%"|Name|colspan="3"|Term of office|rowspan="2"|Political party|rowspan="2"|President|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Lee Beom-seok|31 July 1948|15 August 1948||Independent|||||||
||Lee Beom-seok|15 August 1948|20 April 1950||Independent|||||||
||Shin Song-mo|21 April 1950|22 November 1950||Independent|||||||
||Chang Myon|23 November 1950|23 April 1952||Liberal|||||||
||Yi Yun-yong|24 April 1952|5 May 1952||Independent|||||||
||Chang Taek-sang|6 May 1952|5 October 1952||Independent|||||||
||Paik Too-chin|9 October 1952|17 June 1954||Independent|||||||
||Pyon Yong-tae|27 June 1954|28 November 1954||Independent|||||||
|colspan="8"|Post abolished (28 November 1954 – 15 June 1960)|||||||||||
||Ho Chong|15 June 1960|18 August 1960||Independent|||||||
||Chang Myon|19 August 1960|17 May 1961||Democratic|||||||
||Jang Do-young|20 May 1961|2 July 1961||Military|||||||
||Song Yo-chan|3 July 1961|15 June 1962||Military|||||||
||Park Chung Hee|18 June 1962|9 July 1962||Military|||||||
||Kim Hyun-chul|10 July 1962|16 December 1963||Independent|||||||
||Choi Tu-son|17 December 1963|9 May 1964||Independent|||||||
||Chung Il-kwon|10 May 1964|20 December 1970||Independent|||||||
||Paik Too-chin|21 December 1970|3 June 1971||Democratic Republican|||||||
||Kim Jong-pil|4 June 1971|20 November 1972||Democratic Republican|||||||
||Kim Jong-pil|21 November 1972|18 December 1975||Democratic Republican|||||||
||Choi Kyu-hah|19 December 1975|5 December 1979||Independent|||||||
||Shin Hyun-hwak|13 December 1979|21 May 1980||Democratic Republican|||||||
||Park Choong-hoon|22 May 1980|1 September 1980||Democratic Republican|||||||
||Nam Duck-woo|2 September 1980|2 March 1981||Independent|||||||
||Nam Duck-woo|3 March 1981|3 January 1982||Independent|||||||
||Yoo Chang-soon|4 January 1982|24 June 1982||Independent|||||||
||Kim Sang-hyup|25 June 1982|14 October 1983||Independent|||||||
||Chin Iee-chong|15 October 1983|18 February 1985||Democratic Justice|||||||
|||11 November 1984|18 February 1985||Democratic Justice|||||||
||Lho Shin-yong|19 February 1985|25 May 1987||Democratic Justice|||||||
|||26 May 1987|13 July 1987||Independent|||||||
||Kim Chung-yul|14 July 1987|24 February 1988||Independent|||||||
||Lee Hyun-jae|25 February 1988|4 December 1988||Independent|||||||
||Kang Young-hoon|5 December 1988|26 December 1990||Democratic Justice → Democratic Liberal|||||||
||Ro Jai-bong|27 December 1990|23 May 1991||Democratic Liberal|||||||
||Chung Won-shik|24 May 1991|7 October 1992||Independent|||||||
||Hyun Soong-jong|8 October 1992|24 February 1993||Independent|||||||
||Hwang In-sung|25 February 1993|16 December 1993||Democratic Liberal|||||||
||Lee Hoi-chang|17 December 1993|21 April 1994||Independent|||||||
||Lee Yung-dug|22 April 1994|16 December 1994||Independent|||||||
||Lee Hong-koo|17 December 1994|17 December 1995||Independent|||||||
||Lee Soo-sung|18 December 1995|4 March 1997||New Korea|||||||
||Goh Kun|5 March 1997|2 March 1998||New Korea → Grand National|||||||
||Kim Jong-pil|3 March 1998|12 January 2000||United Liberal Democrats|||||||
||Park Tae-joon|13 January 2000|18 May 2000||United Liberal Democrats|||||||
||Lee Hun-jai|19 May 2000|22 May 2000||Independent|||||||
||Lee Han-dong|23 May 2000|10 July 2002||United Liberal Democrats|||||||
||Chang Sang|11 July 2002|31 July 2002||Independent|||||||
|||31 July 2002|9 August 2002||Independent|||||||
||Chang Dae-whan|9 August 2002|10 September 2002||Independent|||||||
||Kim Suk-soo|10 September 2002|26 February 2003||Independent|||||||
||Goh Kun|27 February 2003|24 July 2004||Independent|||||||
||Lee Hun-jai|25 July 2004|30 July 2004||Independent|||||||
||Lee Hae-chan|30 July 2004|15 March 2006||Uri|||||||
||Han Duck-soo|16 March 2006|19 April 2006||Independent|||||||
||Han Myeong-sook|20 April 2006|6 March 2007||Uri|||||||
|||7 March 2007|2 April 2007||Independent|||||||
||Han Duck-soo|2 April 2007|29 February 2008||Independent|||||||
||Han Seung-soo|29 February 2008|28 September 2009||Grand National|||||||
||Chung Un-chan|29 September 2009|11 August 2010||Independent|||||||
||Yoon Jeung-hyun|11 August 2010|1 October 2010||Grand National|||||||
||Kim Hwang-sik|1 October 2010|26 February 2013||Independent|||||||
||Chung Hong-won|26 February 2013|16 February 2015||Independent|||||||
||Lee Wan-koo|17 February 2015|27 April 2015||Saenuri|||||||
||Choi Kyoung-hwan|27 April 2015|18 June 2015||Saenuri|||||||
|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Hwang Kyo-ahn|rowspan="2"|17 June 2015|rowspan="2"|11 May 2017|rowspan="2"||rowspan="2"|Independent|
||Yoo Il-ho|11 May 2017|31 May 2017||Liberty Korea|||||||
||Lee Nak-yon|31 May 2017|14 January 2020||Democratic|||||||
||Chung Sye-kyun|14 January 2020|16 April 2021||Democratic|||||||
||Hong Nam-ki|16 April 2021|13 May 2021||Independent|||||||
||Kim Boo-kyum|14 May 2021|11 May 2022||Democratic|||||||
||Choo Kyung-ho|12 May 2022|20 May 2022||People Power|||||||
||Han Duck-soo|24 March 2025|1 May 2025||Independent|||||||
||Lee Ju-ho|2 May 2025|3 July 2025||Independent|||||||
||Kim Min-seok|3 July 2025|_Incumbent_||Democratic|||||||

## Other websites

- Prime Minister's Office
- South Korea at worldstatesmen.org

## Infobox (political post)

- **post**: Prime Minister
- **body**: the
Republic of Korea
- **flag**: Flag of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea.svg
- **flagsize**: 125px
- **flagcaption**: List of South Korean flags#National government flags, Standard of the Prime Minister
- **flagborder**: yes
- **department**: Government of South Korea#Executive branch, Executive branch of the Government of South Korea
Prime Minister's Office
- **insignia**: Emblem of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea.svg
- **insigniasize**: x100px
- **insigniacaption**: Emblem of South Korea#Other emblems, Emblem of the Prime Minister
- **nominator**: President of South Korea, President
- **appointer**: President of South Korea, President
(_Subject to the National Assembly (South Korea), National Assembly's approval_)
- **residence**: Chongni Gonggwan
- **seat**: Sejong City
- **termlength**: _At the President of South Korea, President's pleasure_
- **image**: Kim Min-seok's Portrait (2025.3).png
- **imagesize**: 200px
- **incumbent**: Kim Min-seok (politician), Kim Min-seok
- **acting**: no
- **incumbentsince**: 3 July 2025
- **constituting instrument**: Constitution of South Korea
- **inaugural**: Lee Beom-seok (Prime Minister), Lee Beom-seok
- **precursor**: List of prime ministers of South Korea, Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
- **unofficial names**: Prime Minister of South Korea
- **deputy**: Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea, Deputy Prime Minister
- **salary**: ₩191,000,000 annually
- **website**:


## Infobox (korean name)

- **hangul**: 국무총리
- **hanja**: 國務總理
- **rr**: gungmuchongni
- **mr**: kungmuch'ongni