1980 in South Korea

Incumbents

• President: Choi Kyu-hah, Chun Doo-hwan
• Prime Minister:
• * until 22 May: Shin Hyun-hwak
• * 22 May-2 September: Pak Choong-hoon
• * starting 2 September: Nam Duck-woo

  Events

• May 17 - Coup d'état of May Seventeenth: General Chun Doo-hwan forces the Cabinet to extend martial law to the whole nation.
• May 18–27 - Gwangju massacre: Up to 165 people are killed when a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju is crushed by the South Korean army.
• May 20 - Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo order the National Assembly of Korea to be dissolved, using troops to enforce the order.
• July 8- Miss Universe 1980
• August 27 - Chun Doo-hwan is elected President of South Korea by the "National Conference for Unification".

  Films

• Fine Windy Day
• The Hidden Hero
• Neumi
• Painful Maturity
• Son of Man
• The Last Witness
• A Taxi Driver

  Births

• 13 February - Lee Sang-woo, actor
• 4 March - Jeong Da-bin, actress
• 20 March - Ock Joo-hyun, singer
• 21 March - Lee Jin, singer
• 5 April - Lee Jae-won, DJ and singer
• 4 May
• * Park Jong-Jin, footballer
• * Jang Geum-young, sport shooter
• 7 May - Kim Nam-soon, archer
• 19 August - Jun Jin, singer and actor
• 16 November - Lee Eun-ju, actress
• 7 December - Choi Jung-in, singer
• 19 December - Verbal Jint, musician, rapper and record producer

  Deaths

• May 24 - Kim Jae-gyu, South Korean Army Lieutenant General, director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, and assassin of President Park Chung-hee