State · 1948 – present
South Korea
A state of 1948 – present — 78 years, still standing in East and Southeast Asia. It replaced Korea. The atlas records 48 things within it — wars and battles 18 · regime change 2 · unrest and atrocity 5 · famine and plague 2 · natural disasters 3 · people 18. Its line of rulers holds 18 people.
- Still standing: the span runs to the year of the build, 2026.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 78 years
- and still standing
- Rulers
- 18
- the President of South Korea
- Most ground
- 105,200 km²
- in 1953
- Within it
- 48
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 6
- on record, with years
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- Korea · replaces
Rulers
The line of President of South Korea - the office this state names as its head of state.
4 terms are shared from [object Object],[object Object].
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syngman Rhee | 1948 – 1960 | 12 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Paek Nak-chun · from the line of Second Republic of Korea | 1960 – 1960 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Ho Chong · from the line of Second Republic of Korea | 1960 – 1960 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Gwak Sanghun · from the line of Second Republic of Korea | 1960 – 1960 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Yun Po-sun | 1960 – 1962 | 2 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Park Chung Hee | 1963 – 1979 | 16 years | killedWikidata's manner of death | |
| Chun Doo-hwan · from the line of Fourth Republic of Korea | 1979 – 1979 | under a year | ending not on record | |
| Choi Kyu-hah | 1979 – 1979 | under a year | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Chun Doo-hwan | 1980 – 1981 | 1 year | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Roh Tae-woo | 1988 – 1993 | 5 years | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Kim Young-sam | 1993 – 1998 | 5 years | served out the term, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Kim Dae-jung | 1998 – 2003 | 5 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Roh Moo-hyun | 2003 – 2008 | 5 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Lee Myung-bak | 2008 – 2013 | 5 years | ending not on record | |
| Park Geun-hye | 2013 – 2017 | 4 years | deposed or removedWikidata's end cause on the term | |
| Hwang Kyo-ahn | 2016 – 2017 | 1 year | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Moon Jae-in | 2017 – 2022 | 5 years | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Yoon Suk Yeol | 2022 – 2025 | 3 years | deposed or removedWikidata's end cause on the term | |
| Lee Jae Myung | 2025 – in office | in office since 2025 | still in office |
18 rulers, 18 with terms dated as terms, covering 1948 – 2025. Median reign 3.5 years. 8 of 18 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 0.80, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Heads of government
The line of head of government, drawn and never measured: a cabinet is not a reign.
| Lee Jae Myung | 2025 – … |
| Lee Ju-ho | 2025 – 2025 |
| Han Seong-sook | 2026 – … |
Ground held, by year
km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.
102,800 km² in 1948, 105,200 km² in 2018; at its largest 105,200 km² in 1958. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.
.svg/120px-Flag_of_South_Korea_(1948%E2%80%931949).svg.png)
flag, 1948 – 1950Flag of South Korea (1948–1949) · Public domain .svg/120px-Flag_of_South_Korea_(1949%E2%80%931984).svg.png)
flag, 1950 – 1984Flag of South Korea (1949–1984) · Public domain 
coat of arms, from 1963Emblem of South Korea · Public domain .svg/120px-Flag_of_South_Korea_(1984%E2%80%931997).svg.png)
flag, 1984 – 1997Flag of South Korea (1984–1997) · Public domain .svg/120px-Flag_of_South_Korea_(1997%E2%80%932011).svg.png)
flag, 1997 – 2011Flag of South Korea (1997–2011) · Public domain 
flag, from 2011Flag of South Korea · Public domain
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1900 – 199939 rows · 16 wars and battles · 7 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Korean War · war · 1950 – 1953
- Park Geun-hye · ruler · 1952 – present
- Moon Jae-in · ruler · 1953 – present
- Park Chung Hee · ruler · 1917 – 1979
- Han Kang · writer · 1970 – present
- Kim Dae-jung · ruler · 1924 – 2009
- Yoon Suk Yeol · ruler · 1960 – present
- Roh Moo-hyun · ruler · 1946 – 2009
and 31 more in the atlas.
2000 – 20997 rows · 2 wars and battles
- COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea · plague · 2020
- Sinking of ROKS Cheonan · battle · 2010
- 2023 South Korea floods · disaster · 2023
- Battle of Yeonpyeong · battle · 2002
- 2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea · plague · 2015
- 2017 Pohang earthquake · disaster · 2017
- 2022 South Korea floods · disaster · 2022
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood78 years
stood longer than 42% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- The most ground it held105,200 km²
held more ground at its peak than 46% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
- Wars recorded per century2.0
had more wars on record per century than 97% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- How long a reign lasted, at the median4 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 13% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
- Rulers on record18
has more rulers on record than 90% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 11 causes the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1938 – 2036, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1953, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q884 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.