Order of Merit for National Foundation

The Order of Merit for National Foundation (Korean: 건국훈장) is one of South Korea's orders of merit. It is awarded by the President of South Korea for "outstanding meritorious services in the interest of founding or laying a foundation for the Republic of Korea."^[1] The Order was originally established under a slightly different name 건국공로훈장 (建國功勞勳章) by Presidential Decree #82, on Apr. 27, 1949, and is the oldest Order of the Republic of Korea. On January 16, 1967, there were major changes made to the Order of National Foundation under Presidential Decree #2929. The name of the Order was shortened from 건국공로훈장 (建國功勞勳章) to 건국훈장 (建國勳章), and all three classes got new names and designs.^[2]

Order of Merit for National Foundation
3rd Grade Order of Merit for National Foundation.
Awarded by  South Korea
Type	Order of merit
Awarded for	Outstanding meritorious services in the interest of founding or laying a foundation for the Republic of Korea.
Status	Active
Grades	Republic of Korea Medal Presidential Medal Independence Medal Patriotic Medal National Medal
Precedence
Next (higher)	Grand Order of Mugunghwa
Related	Order of Civil Merit Order of Military Merit Order of Service Merit Order of National Security Merit Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Order of Industrial Service Merit Order of Saemaeul Service Merit Order of Cultural Merit Order of Sports Merit Order of Science and Technology Merit

Korean name
Hangul	건국훈장
Hanja	建國勳章
Revised Romanization	Geonguk Hunjang
McCune–Reischauer	Kŏn'guk Hunjang

Grades

The Order of Merit for National Foundation is awarded in five grades.^[3]

Grade	Name	Ribbon
1st	Republic of Korea Medal (대한민국장)
2nd	Presidential Medal (대통령장)
3rd	Independence Medal (독립장)
4th	Patriotic Medal (애국장)
5th	National Medal (애족장)

Recipients

By 2005 about 8,000 people had received the Order.^[4] Many of its recipients have only been awarded the Order posthumously, often because they died before it was established; these include Kim Ku, An Jung-geun, and Cho Man-sik.

Presidents of the Republic of Korea receive the order upon taking office.

Recipients:

Presidents of the Republic of Korea:

1. Yoon Seok Yeol (May 10, 2022)

2. Lee Jae Myung (June 4, 2025)

3. Moon Jae In (May 10, 2017)

4. Chun Doo-hwan (September 1, 1980)

5. Park Chung Hee (December 17, 1963)

6. Syngman Rhee (July 24, 1948)

7. Choi Kyu-hah (December 6, 1979)

8. Kim Young-sam (February 25, 1993)

Foreign leaders

1. Chiang Kai-shek (November 27, 1953)

See also

• Orders, decorations, and medals of South Korea