The Democratic Party (; DP), formerly the Democratic United Party (; DUP) until 2013, was a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

political party in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, and for the duration of its existence the country's main opposition force. On 15 December 2011, the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, which had been the main opposition in the 18th

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

, merged with the minor Citizens Unity Party to form the DUP. The Democratic United Party had strong connections with the

Federation of Korean Trade Unions The Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) is a national trade union center in South Korea formed in 1960. It represents the company union tendency of the South Korean labour movement, as opposed to the more militant Korean Confederation of T ...

. The forming of the party took place against the background of the forthcoming April 2012 legislative election, in which the centre-left opposition sought to defeat the ruling

Saenuri Party The Liberty Korea Party () was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party (), and before that as the Han ...

. At the party's first congress on 15 January 2012, the DUP voted

Han Myeong-sook Han Myeong-sook (born March 24, 1944; ko, 한명숙 ) was the Prime Minister of South Korea from April 2006 to March 2007. She is South Korea's first female prime minister (second female prime minister overall if the acting premiership of Chan ...

chairwoman of the supreme council. Han was from 2006 to 2007 South Korea's first and so far only female

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. Han Myeong-sook vowed to retaliate against the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of South Korea for hiding corruption and malpractice by the

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; ; ; born 19 December 1941) is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the 10th president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and the ma ...

administration. The

New Politics Alliance for Democracy The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK; ), formerly known as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), is a Liberalism, liberal list of political parties in South Korea, political party in South Korea. Controlling the unicameral National Asse ...

followed the Party's position.

List of leaders

Chairpersons

*''Preceding party'': Democratic Party (2008) :: Won Hye-young and Lee Yong-sun (''Interim'', 21 November 2011 – 16 January 2012) #

"Han steps down as DUP head after defeat"
''Korea JoongAng Daily (JoongAng Ilbo)''. 16 April 2012 (16 January 2012 – 16 April 2012) #*

Moon Sung-keun Moon Sung-keun (born May 28, 1953) is a South Korean actor and politician. He has won three Blue Dragon Film Awards, two Baeksang Arts Awards, and two Chunsa Film Art Awards for Best Actor. Career Moon was born in Tokyo, Japan. His father was ...

(''Interim'', 17 April 2012 – 3 May 2012) #*

Park Jie-won Park Jie-won(; born 5 June 1942) is a South Korean politician who served as Director of the National Intelligence Service. He was the chief presidential secretary to President Kim Dae-jung, and served as the Minister of Ministry of Culture, ...

(''Interim'', 4 May 2012 – 8 June 2012) #

Lee Hae-chan Lee Hae-chan (born 10 July 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea from 2018 to 2020. He also served as Prime Minister of South Korea from 2004 to 2006. He served as Member of the National Ass ...

(9 June 2012 – 18 November 2012) #*

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...

(''Interim'', 18 November 2012 – 28 December 2012) #* Park Ki-choon (''Interim'', 28 December 2012 – 9 January 2013) #*

Moon Hee-sang Moon Hee-sang (Korean: 문희상; Hanja: 文喜相; born 3 March 1945) is a South Korean politician. He has a bachelor's degree in law from Seoul National University. He is a member of the National Assembly, and was the interim leader of the New ...

(''Emergency Response Commission'', 9 January 2013 – 4 May 2013) # Kim Han-gil (since 4 May 2013) *''Succeeding party'':

Assembly leaders

Kim Jin-pyo Kim Jin-pyo (; born August 13, 1977) is a South Korean MC, rapper, singer, songwriter, television presenter and professional race car driver. He began his career in 1995 as one half of the duo Panic, together with his childhood friend Lee Juc ...

(23 December 2011 – 4 May 2012) #

(4 May 2012 – 21 December 2012) # Park Ki-choon (21 December 2012 – 15 May 2013) # Jeon Byeong-hun (since 15 May 2013)

Election results

President

Legislature

References

{{South Korean political parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Democratic parties in South Korea Political parties established in 2011 Korean nationalist parties Progressive Alliance