Key Facts
- Duration
- November 1972 – February 1981
- Founding document
- Yushin Constitution (1972 referendum)
- Peak population
- ~38.1 million
- Area
- 99,720 km²
- Ruling party
- Democratic Republican Party
- End event
- New constitution adopted March 1981
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
The Fourth Republic emerged in November 1972 when President Park Chung Hee pushed through the Yushin Constitution via referendum, formalizing his de facto dictatorial powers and replacing the Third Republic. The Yushin System concentrated authority in the presidency, suspended direct popular elections for the head of state, and established the National Conference for Unification as the electoral body, eliminating meaningful political opposition.
Phase II: Zenith
Under the Yushin System, Park Chung Hee and the Democratic Republican Party exercised centralized control over South Korea during a period of rapid industrial and economic growth. South Korea's export-driven economy expanded significantly through state-directed heavy and chemical industrialization, though political repression, suppression of labor rights, and restrictions on civil liberties characterized the era domestically.
Phase III: Decline
Park Chung Hee's assassination on 26 October 1979 plunged the Fourth Republic into crisis. Successor Choi Kyu-hah proved ineffective as General Chun Doo-hwan seized power in the December Twelfth coup. The May 1980 Gwangju Uprising was violently suppressed, and Chun dissolved the National Assembly. He was elected president in August 1980, and the Fourth Republic formally ended with the adoption of a new constitution in March 1981, inaugurating the Fifth Republic.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory