A constitutional referendum was held in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

on 21 November 1972. President Park Chung-hee had suspended the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

and dissolved the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

in October. Work began almost immediately on a new constitution. The finished product, the

Yushin Constitution The fourth Republic of Korea () was the government of South Korea from November 1972 to March 1981. The Fourth republic was founded on the approval of the Yushin Constitution in the 1972 constitutional referendum, codifying the ''de facto'' d ...

, was a severely authoritarian document that dramatically expanded the president's powers and allowed him to run for an unlimited number of six-year terms. For all intents and purposes, the document concentrated all governing power in Park's hands. According to official figures, the new document was approved by 92.3% of voters, with a turnout of 91.9%.Nohlen et al, p427 The adoption of the constitution upon the announcement of the official referendum results ushered in the

Fourth Republic of South Korea The fourth Republic of Korea () was the government of South Korea from November 1972 to March 1981. The Fourth republic was founded on the approval of the Yushin Constitution in the 1972 constitutional referendum, codifying the ''de facto'' di ...

Results

By province

References

{{South Korean elections 1972 referendums 1972 elections in South Korea Constitutional referendums in South Korea