The Minsaeng Party () is a

conservative liberal Conservative liberalism or right-liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with Conservatism, conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement.Michael Gallagher (academic), 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 ...

based in the

Honam Honam (; literally "south of the lake") is a region coinciding with the former Jeolla Province in what is now South Korea. Today, the term refers to Gwangju, South Jeolla and North Jeolla Provinces. The name "Jeonla-do" is used in the names of th ...

region.

Political position

The party has a support base among elderly and socially conservative Christians in the

region. The Democratic Peace Party, a former Honam regionalist party, strongly opposed

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

, but Minsaeng Party has no official position on abortion. On the LGBT issue, MPs expressed their opposition to

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, but criticized some of the ruling Democratic Party's hostile tendencies toward LGBT people.

History

The party was formed on 24 February 2020 by the merger of 3 parties —

Bareunmirae Party The Bareunmirae Party (), also known as the Bareun Mirae Party and Bareun Future Party, was a South Korean liberal-conservative political party. It was founded in 2018 by merger of the centrist liberal People's Party and the conservative Bareu ...

New Alternatives The New Alternatives (Korean: 대안신당) was a South Korean political party founded in 2020. History The New Alternatives was originally organised by the conservative dissidents of the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) on 16 July 2019, ...

and

Party for Democracy and Peace A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

. Ten days before, all 3 parties agree to be merged and re-founded as a new party. Originally, the party was planned to be formed as the Democratic Unified Party () on 17 February. However, on the day of the agreement, the Bareunmirae President

Sohn Hak-kyu Sohn Hak-kyu (born 22 November 1947) is a South Korean politician and the former governor of Gyeonggi-do, the most populous province in Korea. He became a politician in 1996 as a congressman of Grand National Party, and became a governor of Gy ...

showed his objection. In addition, on 18 February, the

National Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

did not allow the upcoming party to use the name as it sounds similar to the extra-parliamentary United Democratic Party. All 3 parties then again signed the agreement after the leaderships of all of them decided to resign on 20 February. On 24 February, 3 parties were finally merged and officially re-founded with the current name. It lost all seats in the 2020 election. In the 2021 by-elections, the party President

Lee Su-bong Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

contested for the Seoul mayorship. Despite his less supports, he was able to appear on television debates, as

Ahn Cheol-soo Ahn Cheol-soo ( ; born 26 February 1962) is a South Korean politician, medical doctor, businessperson, and software entrepreneur. He currently serves as a member of the National Assembly as part of the conservative People Power Party. Prior ...

, who contested under the banner of its predecessor,

, received 19.55% 3 years ago. Nevertheless, he received 0.23% and came far behind of

Park Young-sun Park Young-sun (; born 22 January 1960) is a South Korean journalist-turned politician previously served as the second Minister of SMEs and Startups under President Moon Jae-in from April 2019 to 2021 and the first woman to lead SME-specialise ...

and

Oh Se-hoon Oh Se-hoon (Korean: 오세훈, Hanja: 吳世勳; born January 4, 1961) is a South Korean politician who is currently the serving Mayor of Seoul since 8 April 2021. He also previously served as a member of the National Assembly of South Korea ...

, and even

Huh Kyung-young Huh Kyung-young (born July 13, 1947) is a South Korean politician, founder of the National Revolutionary Dividends Party (국가혁명배당금당, 國家革命配當金黨), cult leader, and singer. Early life On his official profile, Huh says ...

. On 19 April 2021, the former party president

Kim Jung-hwa Kim Jung-hwa (born September 9, 1983)is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame in the 2002 sitcom '' Nonstop 3'', and has since played leading roles in the television series ''Something About 1%'' (2003) and ''Snow White: Taste Sweet Love'' ( ...

made an announcement to quit the party, although she mentioned that she has no willingness to retire from politics. On 4 May 2021, Lee Su-bong was suspended from the party for a year.

Election results

References

{{South Korean political parties 2020 establishments in South Korea Centre-right parties in Asia Conservative liberal parties Conservative parties in South Korea Democratic parties in South Korea Political parties established in 2020 Political parties in South Korea Organizations that oppose LGBT rights Regionalist parties Social conservative parties