Nation Runner

Flag of South KoreaCountry desk · updated 25 Oct

South Korea

The National Assembly has 300 seats. On 10 April 2024 the Democratic Party of Korea won 161 constituency seats, more than the 151 needed for a majority, with 50.48 percent of the constituency vote. The People Power Party won 90 seats and 45.08 percent. The English presidential biography lists Lee Jae Myung as president from 2025, and the prime minister’s profile lists Han Seongsook from 1 July 2026. A Gallup Korea survey of 15–17 September 2026, reported by the Seoul Economic Daily, put the Democratic Party on 40 percent and the People Power Party on 27 percent. That poll is not a forecast and it does not move the seats.

Key takeaways

  1. 1

    Parliament. Democratic Party of Korea holds the most seats: 161 of 300 (54%). A majority needs 151.

  2. 2

    Headlines. The tone is steady: 17% of the last 14 days' headlines read grim, 2% upbeat. Top topic: Politics (22%).

  3. 3

    Government. Government barometer 47/100 (Mixed record). 0 of 2 moves on file read as smart, 0 as harmful.

  4. 4

    Next vote. National Assembly election on 12 April 2028, in 534 days.

Headline mood · 14 days

Line: mood · bars: stories

25 Oct · 4 stories · grim0 upbeat · 3 neutral · 1 grim

What the headlines are about

  • Other 35%
  • Politics 22%
  • Security 20%
  • Economy 17%
  • Society 4%
  • Climate 1%

A simple word-list estimate from the daily wire headlines. Not a judgement.

Who holds the seats · National Assembly

300 seats · 151 for a majority (line)

Democratic Party of Korea

161 seats · 53.7% · a majority alone

161 constituency seats on the 10 April 2024 roster. That is a majority of 300. Constituency vote share 50.48% in the National Election Commission yearbook.

Map · mood compared

South Korea

Overall mood: 17% grim, 2% upbeat · today -25

What changed today

25 Oct

  • 25 Oct: 4 stories (average 7); tone grimmer than usual.

New headlines

  • Rumors of Kim Jong Un's Death Dismissed by South Korean Intelligence

    Social media buzzed with wild claims of Kim Jong Un in a coma or dead, his sister Kim Yo Jong taking over amid secret military moves.

    UnverifiedTrending on X · 24 Oct

  • (5th LD) N. Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits China, meets senior official amid ties push

    SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited China on Satu...

    Yonhap English · 24 Oct

  • Kim Jong-un makes surprise visit to China via new Yalu River bridge

    North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made an unannounced visit to China on Saturday, crossing the newly opened New Yalu River Bridge into the border city of Dandong, South Korea's Unification Ministry confirmed. The surprise trip comes amid renewed diplomatic attention to the Korean Peninsula, with US President Donald Trump seeking to revive dialogue with North Korea and China preparing to host the As…

    Korea Herald national · 24 Oct

  • A quieter Seoul comes alive after dark

    At Unhyeongung, where King Gojong and the future Empress Myeongseong held their wedding ceremony in 1866, visitors are gathering this fall for a quieter occasion: tea and conversation. The former residence of Gojong’s father, Heungseon Daewongun, invites visitors to make traditional Korean desserts, sip tea and share stories about their day, accompanied by live gayageum music. One dessert, gotgam…

    Korea Herald national · 24 Oct

Earlier this week: 10 more headlines

Headlines and summaries come from the linked sources; the selection is automatic.

Go deeper

Parties, people, promises, money

Roster · 10 Apr 2024 · PM 1 Jul 2026

Who won the 300 seats, and who holds the offices we can cite.

The National Assembly has 300 seats. On 10 April 2024 the Democratic Party of Korea won 161 constituency seats, more than the 151 needed for a majority, with 50.48 percent of the constituency vote. The People Power Party won 90 seats and 45.08 percent. The English presidential biography lists Lee Jae Myung as president from 2025, and the prime minister’s profile lists Han Seongsook from 1 July 2026. A Gallup Korea survey of 15–17 September 2026, reported by the Seoul Economic Daily, put the Democratic Party on 40 percent and the People Power Party on 27 percent. That poll is not a forecast and it does not move the seats.

The room

National Assembly

300 seats · 151 to govern · 10 April 2024 roster · proportional lists kept separate

The deal

Democratic Party, 161 seats

161 of 300 seats on the constituency sheet of the 10 April 2024 roster. A majority is 151. The proportional Democratic Alliance is drawn as its own 14 seats.

The mood

Election vs now

10 April 2024 constituency vote for the two large parties, then Gallup Korea party support for 1–3 September and 15–17 September 2026. Not a forecast.

  • Democratic
    40.0%
  • People Power
    27.0%
  • People Future
    0.0%
  • Alliance
    0.0%
  • Rebuilding
    3.0%
  • Reform
    3.0%
  • Progressive
    1.0%
  • New Future
    0.0%

The latest point is Gallup Korea, 15–17 September 2026, as reported by the Seoul Economic Daily: Democratic Party 40, People Power Party 27, Rebuilding Korea Party 3, New Reform Party 3, Progressive Party 1. Sample 1,002. The first point is the election, not the same question. The 1–3 September point is the figure a 24 September 2026 report attributes to Gallup Korea.

The trend

From election night to now

Public pollster blend — not a forecast

The split

Seat share, with the vote left blank

Right bar is seats ÷ 300. Left bar is 0 because no vote share was read.

The mismatch

Seats they hold vs the poll

Beige is the share of 300 seats from 10 April 2024. Blue is Gallup Korea party support for 15–17 September 2026 where that survey printed a figure. Satellite lists that were not in the question are left at zero. The poll is not a forecast.

The faces

Open a dossier

President, prime minister, the People Power representative, and the speaker, each with a free portrait.

Tap a face for the full profile

The rude gauge

Growth king or a fight with work

Who grows the pie, who picks a fight with work. Cabinet sits at 47 / 100. This gauge is an editorial reading, not a court and not a prize. Each person is scored on six topics from the public record named on the row: energy supply, hiring, capital, building, hours in paid work, and paperwork. The number is the average of those topics, times ten. If every topic were still the untouched middle, the label would say not scored. Open a row for the breakdown.

Against the workMixed recordGrowth king

Full causal chains live on every promise

This week

The pulse

Result

National Assembly election

NEC winner roster: 300 seats. Democratic Party 161 constituency seats. Vote shares are not on that file.

Office

Prime Minister

opm.go.kr: Han Seongsook, 50th prime minister, from 1 July 2026.

Politics 101

How this country actually works

What this assembly drawing is

300 seats. 151 to govern. Eight rows from one roster.

The hemicycle uses the National Election Commission winner roster for 10 April 2024. Constituency and proportional lists are kept apart, so the People Power Party’s 90 seats are not merged with the People Future Party’s 18, and the Democratic Party of Korea’s 161 seats are not merged with the Democratic Alliance’s 14. The rows sum to 300. A majority is 151. No by-election after that roster is applied.

Who holds the offices this desk names

President from 2025. Prime Minister from 1 July 2026. Speaker named on 9 June 2026.

Lee Jae Myung is the president on the English presidential biography. Han Seongsook is the 50th prime minister from 1 July 2026 on the prime minister’s English profile. Cho Jeong-sik is the speaker named in the 9 June 2026 Assembly release. Party labels are left off when the cited page does not print one.

Elections

What is on the calendar

National elections and the major votes on these desks, for about the next 24 months. The date comes from the election authority. A poll appears only when a named pollster published it in the last 60 days.

National Assembly election

Expected

Expected · 12 Apr 2028

534 days

The National Election Commission lists 12 April 2028 as provisional.

Date source: National Election Commission

How foreigners are seen

Openness in South Korea

Published surveys only. Each figure shows its source and year.

Who's welcomed

Share of adults in South Korea with a favourable opinion of each country Pew asked about.

Openness score

Three separate measures, each in its own year. We do not blend them.

What expats say

InterNations Expat Insider 2025: rank out of 46 destinations, 1 is best.

  • Ease of settling in38 of 46
  • Culture and welcome42 of 46
  • Local friendliness39 of 46
  • Finding friends38 of 46

InterNations, Expat Insider 2025

In plain words

  • Expats ranked South Korea 38 of 46 for ease of settling in (2025); its best sub-score was finding friends at 38.
  • Of the 3 countries Pew asked about here, United States drew the most favourable opinions (61%, 2025).
  • Favourable opinions of Russia went from 54% in 2018 to 10% in 2025 (Pew).
Sources and method

Pew asks adults for their opinion of a country. That is a view of the country, not of its people or of any visitor. We never estimate a pair that was not asked.

InterNations ranks come from expats living in the country (46 destinations). Gallup's Migrant Acceptance Index runs from 0 to 9. MIPEX scores integration law and policy from 0 to 100.

What it means for you

What it means for you

Only figures with a source, a date, and a link. Anything not listed here is not on file.

  • Work

    The hourly minimum wage from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026 is 10,320 won. The same Minimum Wage Commission table lists a monthly amount of 2,156,880 won on a 209-hour month, and a 2.9 percent rise.

    Minimum Wage Commission, 2026-01-01 Source

  • Taxes

    The National Tax Service says a general taxpayer is charged value-added tax at 10 percent of sales. Output tax is described as 10 percent of sales, minus input tax.

    National Tax Service, 2026-09-27 Source

  • Benefits

    The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the 2026 basic pension for a single older person rises from 342,510 won in 2025 to 349,700 won a month. The couple amount on the same table is 559,520 won.

    Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2026-01-09 Source

  • Work permit

    A Ministry of Justice notice dated 29 December 2025 sets the professional-worker (E-7-1) floor at 31,120,000 won a year, written as 3,112만 won, for 1 February 2026 through 31 December 2026. The E-7-2 and E-7-3 floors on the same table are 25,890,000 won.

    Ministry of Justice, 2025-12-29 Source

Sources, licences and image credits

Data

  • Wire (public RSS feeds): X, Yonhap English, Korea Herald national.
  • 10 April 2024 constituency vote for the two large parties, then Gallup Korea party support for 1–3 September and 15–17 September 2026. Not a forecast.
  • Editorial economic-competence gauge, not a court and not a Nobel. Six axes: energy, hiring, capital, building, hours in work, red tape. Scores are a judgement from public records of this term and the last — not a bribery charge, not a voting recommendation.

Survey sources

  • South Korea — Gallup Migrant Acceptance Index 2016: Gallup. Neli Esipova, Anita Pugliese and Julie Ray, “New Index Shows Least-, Most-Accepting Countries for Migrants”, Gallup, 23 August 2017. The South Korea row in that table is 6.49. The table note says the scores are from 138 countries surveyed in 2016. No later South Korea score was read on a Gallup page, so later years are omitted. Source. Gallup allows a contextual citation when the publication date and a link are given. The table and graphics are not reproduced.
  • South Korea — MIPEX overall score 2020: MIPEX. Solano, Giacomo & Huddleston, Thomas (2020). Migrant Integration Policy Index 2020. Barcelona/Brussels: CIDOB and MPG. The overall-score list includes Korea 56. The country page says “Korea scores 56/100, higher than the MIPEX average country (49).” Source · PDF. © 2020 MPG and CIDOB. The book asks for this academic citation. The overall score is cited; the book is not reproduced. Public or commercial reuse beyond citation is not claimed.

Image credits

  • Democratic Party of Korea logo — Democratic Party of Korea · Public domain Source
  • People Power Party logo — People Power Party · Public domain Source
  • Geometric mark for the People Future Party seats — Nation Runner · Original geometric mark. Not an official party logo. Public domain. Source
  • Geometric mark for the Democratic Alliance seats — Nation Runner · Original geometric mark. Not an official party logo. Public domain. Source
  • Rebuilding Korea Party logo — Rebuilding Korea Party · Public domain Source
  • New Reform Party logo — New Reform Party · Public domain Source
  • Geometric mark for the Progressive Party seat — Nation Runner · Original geometric mark. Not an official party logo. Public domain. Source
  • Geometric mark for the New Future Party seat — Nation Runner · Original geometric mark. Not an official party logo. Public domain. Source
  • Flag of South Korea — Government of the Republic of Korea · Public domain Source
  • Lee Jae Myung, President of the Republic of Korea — Republic of Korea · CC BY-SA 2.0 Source
  • Han Seongsook, Prime Minister — National Assembly of the Republic of Korea · KOGL Type 1 (attribution). Reuse is allowed with attribution. Source
  • Jang Dong-hyeok, People Power Party representative — People Power Party TV · CC BY 4.0 Source
  • Cho Jeong-sik, Speaker of the National Assembly — National Assembly of the Republic of Korea · KOGL Type 1 (attribution). Reuse is allowed with attribution. Source
Questions the desk actually answers

FAQ

Questions the desk actually answers

Is the South Korea desk live on Nation Runner?
Yes. It draws the 10 April 2024 National Assembly winner roster from the National Election Commission, and the president and prime minister named on president.go.kr and opm.go.kr. It is an editorial dashboard, not an official record.
Which culture figures does the South Korea desk show?
Gallup’s Migrant Acceptance Index for South Korea in 2016 (6.49 out of 9) and the MIPEX 2020 overall score (56 out of 100). A later Gallup score is omitted because no later table was read. The Pew Spring 2025 row already on the perceptions page is cited there.
Does the money tab score Korean party funds?
No. Zeros mean the access scale is not filled. A zero is not a finding that a party has no donors.
How we source this

Seats: NEC roster, 10 April 2024. Offices: president.go.kr and opm.go.kr. Culture: Gallup 2016 and MIPEX 2020 only.

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