Hope of Korea (, HoK) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 ...

. The Party focused on scientific politics, technocracy, and

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

. The party was established by Parliamentarian Yang Hyang-ja on 28 July 2023. On July 15, 2021, Yang was expelled from 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 ...

for her handling of sexual misconduct in her office. A female employee of Yang's regional office in Gwangju complained of sexual harassment by Yang's cousin, who also worked there. Yang then inflicted second punishment by

gaslighting Gaslighting is a colloquialism, loosely defined as manipulating someone so as to make them question their own reality. The term derives from the title of the 1944 American film ''Gaslight'', which was based on the 1938 British theatre play ''Gas ...

the victim, ignoring the complaints, and denying the situation in interviews. The Party was expected to run in the 2024 South Korean legislative election. As of 20 July 2023, the Party still needed to complete the requirements to become a legal party under the rules of the National Elections Commission. The Party was officially registered to the National Election Commission with 1 member of parliament on 28 August 2023. On 24 January 2024, Yang merged her Party into

Lee Jun-seok Jun-seok Andy Lee (; born 31 March 1985) is a South Korean politician who served as party leader of the conservative People Power Party. Lee entered politics as a relatively young member of the Park Geun-hye presidential administration, d ...

's newly-created New Reform Party ahead of the April 10 parliamentary election.

Logo controversy

Hope of Korea's authentication as a political party was stalled in July 2023 due to a complaint about the party's logo. The minor Open Democratic Party expressed displeasure and filed a complaint to the National Elections Commissions after claiming that Hope of Korea was using a logo too similar to the Open Democratic Party's logo. In response to the statement, Yang Hyang-ja's office refuted the opinion of the Open Democratic Party, saying that the shape of the door is common in design, and the key is the person crossing through the door. The Party officially completed all requirements and was registered on 28 August 2023.

References

External links

Official website
2023 establishments in South Korea Centrist parties in Asia Liberal parties in South Korea Political parties established in 2023 Political parties disestablished in 2024 {{SouthKorea-party-stub