The Korean Social Democratic Party (KSDP) is 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 ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, allied with the ruling

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of ...

. It was formed on 3 November 1945 as the Korean Democratic Party by a diverse group of medium and small

entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

handicraftsmen A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

petite bourgeoisie ''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, literally 'small bourgeoisie'; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a French term that refers to a social class composed of semi-autonomous peasants and small-scale merchants whose politico-economic ideological st ...

peasants A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

, and

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. The party's founders were motivated by

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

and anti-

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

aspirations, and aimed to eliminate the legacy of Japanese rule and build a new

democratic society Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

. The party came more under the influence of the government over time and today is a part of the

Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea The Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, also known as the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) or the Fatherland Front, is a North Korean popular front formed on 22 July 1946 and led by the Workers' Part ...

, a nominal alliance of parties dominated by the ruling

History

Launching convention of the Democratic Party of Korea

The party was established in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

Cho Man-sik Cho Man-sik ( ko, 조만식; pen-name Kodang; 1 February 1883 – 15 or 18 October 1950) was a nationalist activist in Korea's independence movement. He became involved in the power struggle that enveloped North Korea in the months following t ...

on 3 November 1945 as the Korean Democratic Party (조선민주당).Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, pp. 652–653 It quickly gained support from Christian businessmen and intellectuals, as well as well-off workers, and had around half a million members after only a few weeks. However, the party was blamed for a series of anti-communist and anti-Soviet riots, and after Cho opposed the results of the Moscow Conference in December (which was supported by the communists and Soviets), he was arrested by the Soviets. Cho's arrest led to many of the party's leaders moving to

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

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 ...

, where they set up a new headquarters; the party nominated five candidates for the May 1948 Constitutional Assembly elections in South Korea, winning one seat, taken by

Yi Yun-yong Yi Yun-yong (August 19, 1890 – October 15, 1975) was a South Korean politician. He was the acting prime minister of South Korea following Chang Myon. Biography Early life and activism Yi was born in 1890 in Nyongbyon County, and his art name ...

. In North Korea the party was taken over by new leadership headed by communist Choe Yong-gon and subsequently joined the pro-Soviet

Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland The Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, also known as the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) or the Fatherland Front, is a North Korean popular front formed on 22 July 1946 and led by the Workers' Part ...

, after which it became subordinate to the

. Its candidates were given 35 seats in the August 1948 elections and eleven in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. In 1959 and 1960 all of the party's offices were shut down by the government. It was subsequently reduced to four seats in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

and one in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. In 1980 it adopted its current name. From 1982 until the early 2000s, the party distributed its party journal abroad in Korean and English translation. Since the mid-2000s, its party journal is only available online. The 1990 elections saw the party awarded 51 seats. It had 52 seats following the 1998 elections and 50 after the

2009 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2009. * Electoral calendar 2009 * 2009 United Nations Security Council election Caribbean * 2009 Antiguan general election * 2009 Aruban general election * 2009 Caymanian constitutional referendu ...

. It retained the same number of seats in the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

. The party was headed by Pak Yong-il until his death in 2022. The previous chairman was Kim Yong-dae.North Side Committee for Implementing June 15 Joint Declaration Meets
, KCNA, 30 January 2007. , the party had more than 30,000 members.

Ideology

The Korean Democratic Party was renamed the Korean Social Democratic Party in 1981. Since then, the party has been used in

North Korean propaganda Propaganda is widely used and produced by the government of North Korea (DPRK). Most propaganda is based on the ''Juche'' ideology and on the promotion of the Workers' Party of Korea. The first syllable of ''Juche'', "ju", means the man; th ...

targeting foreign sympathizers. Because of the ostensible social democratic ideology, which is intelligible to foreigners, the Social Democratic Party is used in such propaganda much more than the other legal minor party,

Chondoist Chongu Party The Chondoist Chongu Party is a popular front party in North Korea. The party was founded on 8 February 1946 by a group of followers of the Ch'ŏndogyo. The party increasingly came under the influence of the government over time and is a part ...

. In the 1990s, the KSDP published periodical magazines in Korean and English. These magazines sought to simultaneously convince foreigners that North Korea has a

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coal ...

with independent parties but also that, paradoxically, minor parties in North Korea support the Workers' Party of Korea without reservation. Nominally, the party seeks to establish a social democracy befitting Korea's historical conditions and national characteristics. The party's motto is "independence, sovereignty, democracy, peace and the defence of human rights".Korean Social Democratic Party
Naenara It is part of the

, a coalition with the other two legal parties in North Korea, the Chondoist Chongu Party and the Workers' Party of Korea.

Criticism of government policy

Contrary to its usual portrayal in official propaganda, for a brief time in the mid-to-late 1980s, the party's journal featured texts raising criticism of government policies. These included calls to give more support to people with disabilities or improve the petition system, as well as raising the potential benefits of allowing more than one candidate per election district and allowing voters to decide which would be elected. It is believed these statements may have been linked to a brief liberalization of North Korea's justice system that occurred around the same time.

Election results

North Korea

Supreme People's Assembly

South Korea

Vice President

Constitutional Assembly

Notes

References

External links

* at ''Ryomyong'', the website of the National Reconciliation Council {{Authority control 1945 establishments in Korea Anti-imperialist organizations Political parties established in 1945 Social democratic parties in Asia Socialist parties in North Korea Workers' Party of Korea