The Korea Independence Party (; KIP) was a 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 ...
.
History
The party was established in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
by
Kim Koo
Kim Gu (, ; August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), also known by his pen name Baekbeom (백범; ), was a Korean statesman. He was the sixth, ninth, and president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea; a leader of the Korean indepen ...
in 1928, uniting a faction of conservative members of the
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
The Korean Provisional Government (KPG), formally the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, was a partially recognized Korean government-in-exile based in Shanghai, China, and later in Chongqing, during the period of Japanese co ...
headed by Kim.
[Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, p671] When Kim was able to return to Korea in 1945, the KIP began operating in the country. Kim was initially supportive of
Syngman Rhee, but a dispute over holding separate elections in South Korea (Kim was opposed, Rhee was for) led to a split and the party did not participate in the
1948 parliamentary elections in South Korea. However, Kim was a candidate in the
indirect presidential elections in July 1948, losing heavily to Rhee.
When Kim was assassinated in 1949, the party went into a sharp decline. It participated in the
1950 parliamentary elections, but received only 0.3% of the vote, failing to win a seat. It received the same vote share in the
1960 elections, again failing to win a seat. It nominated Chun Jin-han as its candidate for the
May 1967 presidential elections; he finished fifth in a field of six candidates with 2.1% of the vote. Despite increasing its vote share to 2.2% in the
June 1967 parliamentary elections, the party remained seatless.
Election results
President
Vice President
Legislature
House of Representatives
House of Councillors
References
{{South Korean political parties
1928 establishments in China
1970 disestablishments in South Korea
Defunct political parties in South Korea
Confucian political parties
Conservative parties in South Korea
Hongik Ingan
Korean Confucianism
Korean independence movement
Korean nationalist parties
Political parties disestablished in 1970
Political parties established in 1928
Three Principles of the People