In a seismic design, a structural demand by an earthquake load is determined by design response spectra. The ground motion is a three-dimensional movement; therefore, the design response spectra in each direction need to be assigned. However, in most design codes, an identical design response spectrum is used in two horizontal directions. Unlike these design criteria, a realistic seismic input motion should be applied for a seismic evaluation of structures. In this study, the definition of horizontal spectral acceleration representing the two-horizontal spectral acceleration is reviewed. Based on these methodologies, the horizontal responses of observed ground motions are calculated. The data used in the analysis are recorded accelerograms at the stations near the epicenters of recent earthquakes which are the 2007 Odeasan earthquake, 2016 Gyeongju earthquake, and 2017 Pohang earthquake. Geometric mean-based horizontal response spectra and maximum directional response spectrum are evaluated and their differences are compared over the period range. Statistical representation of the relations between geometric mean and maximum directional spectral acceleration for horizontal direction and spectral acceleration for vertical direction are also evaluated. Finally, discussions and suggestions to consider these different two horizontal directional spectral accelerations in the seismic performance evaluation are presented.