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Past Presidential Elections
Past Presidents
 
 
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  Tenure Name Name Note
1st~3rd Jul. 1948 ~
Apr. 1960		 Rhee Syngman 1st : Indirect
2nd-3rd : Direct		 Fled to Hawaii following April 19, 1960 Revolution despite being elected 4th president.
4th Aug. 1960 ~
Mar. 1962		 Yun Po-sun Indirect Overthrown after May 16, 1961 military coup, but remained the nation's nominal leader until his resignation.
5th~9th Dec. 1963 ~
Oct. 1979		 Park Chung-hee

5th-7th : Direct
8th-9th : Indirect

 Took power in the '61 military coup. Amended Third Republic Constitution to allow a president to run for three consecutive terms. Dissolved the National Assembly and suspended the Constitution to establish the Yusin/Restoration Constitution. Assassinated on Oct. 26, 1979.

10th		 Dec. 1979 ~
Aug. 1980		 Choi Kyu-hah Indirect Served as acting president after Park’s assassination. Resigned, handing power to new military leadership after Gwangju Uprising.
11th~12th Sep. 1980 ~ Feb. 1988 Chun Doo-hwan 11th : Indirect
12th : Direct		 Sought to hand over power to successor while maintaining indirect election system but completed tenure after amending Constitution to introduce direct elections.
13th Février 1988 ~ février 1993 Roh Tae-woo Direct First president to serve single five-year presidency.
14th Feb. 1988 ~ Feb. 1993 Kim Young-sam Direct First president to come originally from opposition camp.
15th Feb. 1993 ~ Feb. 1998 Kim Dae-jung Direct Realized first transition of political power from ruling to opposition camps.

16th		 Feb. 1998 ~
Feb. 2003		 Roh Moo-hyun Direct Bolted from ruling party to create new party.