The Democratic Nationalist Party (, DNP) was a conservative 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 ...

History

The DNP was established on 10 February 1949 as a merger of the

Korea Democratic Party The Korea Democratic Party (, KDP) was the leading opposition party in the first years of the First Republic of Korea. It existed from 1945 to 1949, when it merged with other opposition parties. The U.S. military government has defined the ...

and groups that supported Yi Chong-chon (who headed a youth organisation) and

Shin Ik-hee Sin Ik-hui (Hangul: 신익히, hanja: 申翼熙) (9 June 1894 – 5 May 1956) was a Korean independence activist and politician during the period of Japanese rule. He was Speaker of the National Assembly during President Syngman Rhee's first t ...

(a member of the National Association), with the new party holding 70 of the 200 seats in the Assembly.Haruhiro Fukui (1985) ''Political parties of Asia and the Pacific'', Greenwood Press, pp666–667 It supported the creation of a

parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...

, and in 1950 proposed a constitutional amendment to this effect, although it was defeated in the Assembly. In the 1950 parliamentary elections the party received the highest share of the vote, although at 9.8%, it won only 24 of the 210 seats in a parliament dominated by independents. It nominated

Yi Si-yeong Seongjae Yi Si-yeong (Chosŏn'gŭl: 이시영; Hanja: 李始榮, December 3, 1868 – April 19, 1953) was a Korean politician, independence activist, educator and neo-Confucianist scholar. He was the first vice president of South Korea from ...

as its candidate for the 1952 presidential elections; he finished third with 11% of the vote. The 1954 parliamentary elections saw the party's vote share fall to 7.9% as it was reduced to 15 seats. In 1955 it was succeeded by 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 ...

Election results

President

Vice President

House of Representatives

References

{{Authority control 1949 establishments in South Korea 1955 disestablishments in South Korea Anti-communist parties Classical liberal parties Conservative liberal parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Democratic parties in South Korea Korean nationalist parties Social conservative parties Political parties disestablished in 1955 Political parties established in 1949