The Democratic Republican Party (; DRP) was a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
, broadly
corporatist[Kim, B. K. & Vogel, E. F. (eds.) (2011). ''The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea''. Harvard University Press. p. 125.] and
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
[Kohli, A. (2004). ''State-Directed Development: Political Power and Industrialization in the Global Periphery''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 92.] 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 Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
, ruling from shortly after its formation on February 2, 1963 to its dissolution under
Chun Doo-hwan
Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah as president of South Korea from 1980 to 198 ...
in 1980.
History
Under the control of
Park Chung Hee
Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...
,
President of South Korea from his
military coup d'état of 1961 until his assassination in 1979, the party oversaw a period of accelerated, state-directed industrialization and socio-economic modernization known as the "
Miracle of the Han River", where a predominantly poor and agrarian country was transformed into an industrial "
tiger economy". The combination of state and corporate
chaebol power pioneered by the party
[Kohli, p. 27.] continues to be deeply built into the foundations of the South Korean economic system.
Following the promulgation in October 1972 of the
Yushin Constitution, which implemented numerous authoritarian centralizing measures such as the direct appointment of a third of the National Assembly by the President, the DRP assumed an unprecedented level of political power. For the next eight years, South Korea was essentially a one-party state ruled by the DRP.
After Park's assassination on 26 October 1979 and the seizure of power by
Chun Doo-hwan
Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah as president of South Korea from 1980 to 198 ...
in the
coup d'état of December Twelfth, the DRP was dissolved on 1 September 1980, and nominally superseded by the
Korean National Party. However, leadership of the state was assumed by the
Democratic Justice Party, formed in January 1981, which may be seen as a spiritual successor of the DRP in terms of its constitutional vision and mimicking of Park's leadership style. Through this evolution, the
Grand National 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 Hanna ...
may be seen as the modern heir of the DRP, though the policies advocated by South Korean conservatives have changed significantly since South Korea's
democratization in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Election results
President
Legislature
References
{{South Korean political parties
Defunct political parties in South Korea
Fourth Republic of Korea
Conservative parties in South Korea
Far-right politics in South Korea
National conservative parties
Political parties established in 1963
Political parties disestablished in 1980
Right-wing populism in South Korea
Right-wing populist parties
Liberty Korea Party
Park Chung-hee