Disclosed herein is a light emitting diode (LED) including: a gallium nitride substrate; a gallium nitride-based first contact layer disposed on the gallium nitride substrate; a gallium nitride-based second contact layer; an active layer having a multi-quantum well structure and disposed between the first and second contact layers; and a super-lattice layer having a multilayer structure and disposed between the first contact layer and the active layer. By employing the gallium nitride substrate, the crystallinity of the semiconductor layers can be improved, and in addition, by disposing the super-lattice layer between the first contact layer and the active layer, a crystal defect that may be generated in the active layer can be prevented.