Citizens of South Korea can change their government demo-cratically. South Korea's elections are free and fair, and the government is elected on the basis of universal suffrage. The constitution, which was created in 1988, vests powers in a directly elected president, who is limited to a single five-year term. The unicameral National Assembly, consisting of 299 members, is directly elected for a four-year term.

The 2004 parliamentary election demonstrated that major steps had been taken since 2002 to improve electoral processes. Improvements included adherence to campaigning rules, record levels of voter turnout, and a reduction in electoral irregularities under the watch of the National Election Commission.

Political pluralism is robust in South Korean politics, with multiple political parties competing for power. Major political parties include the Uri Party, the (MDP), the the Grand National Party (GNP), the United Liberal Democrats (ULP), and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP).

Despite the overall health of the South Korean political system, bribery, influence peddling, and extortion by officials have not been eradicated from political, business, and everyday life. However, the South Korean government has made recent progress in developing institutions and laws to help fight corruption. South Korea was ranked 40 out of 159 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index.

South Korea's news media are free and competitive. Newspapers are privately owned and report fairly aggressively on governmental policies and alleged official and corporate wrongdoing. The government directly censors films for sex and violence, though it has been increasingly liberal in recent years. Violent and sexually explicit websites are also censored. South Korea's online media have been praised by Reporters Without Borders for expanding quickly without censorship. The journalism watchdog group names South Korea as the top-ranked Asian country in the area freedom of information .

The administration of President Roh Moo-huyn has recently come under attack for trying to push through legislation that would restrict the circulation of conservative dailies, thereby restricting their influence in a strongly divided country. To the credit of the South Korean government, the law did not pass. The NSL stipulates that South Koreans may not listen to North Korean radio. However, no effective measures are in place to block access to broadcasts by North Korean stations. Reporters Without Borders and other organizations have supported the repeal of the NSL because its revocation would improve media freedom by allowing freer media coverage on North Korea. The GNP has threatened to obstruct a repeal motion with all "means and methods" at their disposal.

The constitution in South Korea provides for freedom of religion, and the government does not enforce any state religion. Academic freedom is also unrestricted, with the exception of limits on statements of support for the North Korean regime or pro-Communist comments.

South Korea maintains freedom of association, and the Law on Assembly and Demonstrations requires only that the police be informed in advance of all demonstrations, including political rallies. Human rights, social welfare, and other nongovernmental groups are active and operate freely.

South Korea's independent labor unions strongly advocate workers' interests, often by organizing high-profile strikes and demonstrations that sometimes lead to arrests. According to the U.S. State Department's 2005 human rights report, there were 228 strikes, involving 105,577 workers, between January and August 2005. Beginning in 2006, multiple unions will be permitted at the company level, a change expected to give workers greater choice of representatives. The law, however, still bars defense industry and white-collar government workers from forming unions and bargaining collectively, although government workers can form more limited workplace councils. Even those federations not recognized by the government operate in practice without restriction, however. Collective bargaining is widespread among both legal and unrecognized labor federations.

South Korea's judiciary is generally considered to be independent, and the U.S. State Department report declared that it is "becoming increasingly so in practice." There is no trial by jury; judges render verdicts in all cases. The National Police Administration, under the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, is occasionally responsible for human rights abuses such as verbal and physical abuse of detainees. The police administration is generally considered well-disci-plined and uncorrupt.

Laws concerning detention are often vague. Of particular concern is the broadly drafted NSL, which authorizes the arrest of South Koreans accused of espionage or of supporting North Korea in general. The interpretation of this law means that people can be arrested for making positive remarks about North Korea, although these arrests are the subject of considerable dispute. In August 2004, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law did not excessively restrict human rights, but in October, the ruling Uri Party introduced legislation to loosen or scrap the law, offering the country alternatives ranging from revisions of the existing law to the drafting of an entirely new law. The move was part of the government's broader reform drive, but thousands of people rallied in protest, asserting that the law in its current form was still a necessary safeguard against security threats from North Korea.

Because South Korean citizenship is based on parentage rather than place of birth, non-ethnic South Koreans face extreme difficulties obtaining citizenship. Lack of citizenship bars them from the civil service and makes it harder to be hired by some major corporations. The country's very few ethnic minorities face legal and societal discrimination.

The government generally respects citizens' right to privacy. An Anti-Wiretap Law sets out the conditions under which the government can monitor phone calls, mail, and e-mail. Travel both within South Korea and abroad is unrestricted; the only exception is travel to North Korea, for which government approval is required.

Although women in South Korea possess de jure equality, there is considerable de facto discrimination within society, with men enjoying more social privileges and better employment opportunities. However, a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in July 2005 granted married women in South Korea equal property rights with men concerning the inheritance of property owned by family clans. Previously, married women were considered to be part of their husband's family and were not eligible to inherit family property. Women's rights groups in South Korea hailed the decision as significant for reducing gender discrimination within the family.