The Bareun Party () 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 ...

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 ideological or p ...

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 ...

, announced on 27 December 2016 with the defection of 29 anti-Park

Saenuri 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 Han ...

lawmakers. It was known as the Conservative New Party for Reform until 8 January 2017.

History

The party was formed amidst a faction feud in the Liberty Korea Party (then ''Saenuri Party'') involving pro and anti-

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges. Park was the fi ...

forces. The party began as a parliamentary negotiation body that split from the Saenuri Party in December 2016, and became a party in January 2017.

Merger

In January 2018, the party's leader, along with the People's Party leader

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. Pri ...

, announced their plans to merge the two parties, in an effort to bolster the two party's parliamentary standing ahead of

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

in June. The merger faces opposition from members of both parties, citing concerns over differences in ideology and policy, particularly over differing stances on dealing with

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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

. Nevertheless, the party approved the merger plans on 5 February 2018. The merger is expected to be finalized on February 13.

Defections

During its existence, the party suffered from a spate of defections.

2017

By April 2017, the party had already lost 14 lawmakers. In May, a week before the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

, 13 lawmakers affiliated with the party announced their decision to defect and return to the LKP. The decision came after the party's presidential candidate, Yoo Seong-min, declined to join forces with LKP's

Hong Joon-pyo Hong Joon-pyo (born 20 November 1953), also spelled as Hong Jun-pyo, is a South Korean politician and former prosecutor who is the current Mayor of Daegu. He previous served as the governor of South Gyeongsang Province, a member of the Na ...

and PP's Ahn Cheol-soo and field a single presidential candidate. The defection left the party with just 19 seats in the National Assembly, one short of the 20 required for a political party to be recognized as a negotiating body. Ahead of a leadership contest in November 2017, an additional eight lawmakers defected, and rejoined the LKP. The eight lawmakers were later joined by the party's floor leader, Joo-Ho-young.

2018

On 9 January 2018, lawmaker Kim Se-yeon,

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

Governor

Nam Kyung-pil Nam Kyung-pil (born 20 January 1965; ) is a South Korean politician who served as the 34th governor of Gyeonggi Province from 2014 to 2018. Before his election, he had been a member of the National Assembly since 1998, representing Paldal-gu. In ...

, and lawmaker Park In-sook defected from the party, all of whom rejoined the LKP.

Electoral results

References

{{Bareunmirae Party Conservative parties in South Korea Neoliberal parties Social conservative parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Political parties established in 2016 Political parties disestablished in 2018 2016 establishments in South Korea