Judicial branch: Supreme Court
Leaders:
Chief of State—President ROH Tae Woo (since 25 February 1988);
Head of Government—Prime Minister KANG Young Hoon (since 5 December 1988); Deputy Prime Minister CHO Soon (since 5 December 1988)
Political parties and leaders: major party is government's Democratic
Justice Party (DJP), Roh Tae Woo, president, and Park Tae Chun, chairman;
opposition parties are Peace and Democracy Party (PPD), Kim Dae Jung; Korea
Reunification Democratic Party (RPD), Kim Young Sam; New Democratic Republican
Party (NDRP), Kim Jong Pil; several smaller parties
Suffrage: universal at age 20
Elections:
President—last held on 16 December 1987 (next to be held December 1992);
results—Roh Tae Woo (DJP) 35.9%, Kim Young Sam (RDP) 27.5%,
Kim Dae Jung (PPD) 26.5%, other 10.1%;
National Assembly—last held on 26 April 1988 (next to be held April 1992); results—DJP 34%, RPD 24%, PPD 19%, NDRP 15%, others 8%; seats—(299 total) DJP 125, PPD 71, RPD 59, NDRP 35, others 9
Communists: Communist party activity banned by government
Other political or pressure groups: Korean National Council of Churches; large, potentially volatile student population concentrated in Seoul; Federation of Korean Trade Unions; Korean Veterans' Association; Federation of Korean Industries; Korean Traders Association
Member of: ADB, AfDB, ASPAC, CCC, Colombo Plan, ESCAP, FAO, G-77,
GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, IMF,
IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IPU, IRC, ITU, IWC—International Whaling
Commission, IWC—International Wheat Council, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO,
UNICEF, UNIDO, UN Special Fund, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO;
official observer status at UN