The Democratic Party (; DP) 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 ...

. Formerly named Millennium Democratic Party (; MDP), it was renamed in May 6, 2005. After its dissolution, its members joined the

Uri Party The Yeollin Uri Party (), generally abbreviated to Uri Party (), was the ruling political party in South Korea from 2003–2007. It had a liberal political ideology in order to support then President Roh Moo-hyun. Chung Sye Kyun was the last le ...

or the successor Democratic Party.

History

In 2000, the party officially founded, after it merged of

National Congress for New Politics The National Congress for New Politics (; NCNP) was a political party of South Korea. History The party was formed in 1995 as the National Congress for New Politics after Kim Dae-jung returned to active politics following his retirement in 1992 ...

and New People Party led by Lee In-je and a number of conservative minded politicians joined it. In the 2000 Parliamentary election the party came second winning 115 seats.

Roh Moo-hyun Roh Moo-hyun (; ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea between 2003 and 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

was elected as president in 2002, but he subsequently left the party after he inaugurated as president and his supporters formed the

in 2003. The MDP lost majority when Roh was

impeach Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

ed in March 2004 by the National Assembly for illegal electioneering and incompetence charges with support from the

Grand National 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 Hanna ...

, losing 53 seats to a total of only 9 seats in the 2004 parliamentary election. Roh Moo-hyun was later re-instated by the Constitutional Court, and served as president until the end of his term. By June 2007, much of the party joined the

, while the New People faction merged the party with the Central Reform United New Party to form a new Democratic Party.

Political position

The Democratic Party is a political party led by Kim Dae-jung individual charisma and is generally classified as "

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

" () or "

conservative liberalism Conservative liberalism or right-liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. M. Gallagher, M. Laver and P. Mair, ''Repre ...

" (). Later in 2017, South Korea's

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

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 ...

politician

Ha Tae-keung Ha Tae-keung ( Korean: 하태경, born 26 April 1968) is South Korean activist and politician who is currently a member of National Assembly representing the 1st constituency of Haeundae District in Busan. He has served as Vice President of the ...

said of Kim Dae-jung, "He devoted his life to

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

and the market economy in Korea", adding, "He is a big adult in the conservative camp". South Korean

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

conservative-liberal politician

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 ...

said "the (Democratic Party of Korea's) DJ period was a complete 'centrist', but the

government and the

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...

government were on the 'left-leaning' side". (For your information, "DJ" is an abbreviation for "Dae-jung".) Kim Dae-jung and the Democratic Party enacted the 'Domestic Violence Prevention Act' () and the 'Anti Male and Female Discrimination Act' (), and established the ' Ministry of Gender Equality" (). Also, Kim Dae-jung himself was a feminist. On the other hand, he pursued a typical conservative economic agenda and was called a "Neoliberal Revolutionist" ().

Presidential election primary

Candidates

This is a list of official pre-registered candidates that declared their 2007 presidential bid.
Kim Yeong-hwan
김영환), former Assembly member and also former Minister of Science and Technology of the Kim Dae-jung Administration has been declared not to run its presidential primary on August 31, 2007Kim Yeong-hwan announced not to run
, Yonhap, Retrieved on August 31, 2007

Election results

President

Legislature

Local

References

External links

* Namuwiki
Democratic Party (2000)

Democratic Party
official site {{Democratic Party (South Korea, 2000) Democratic parties in South Korea Defunct liberal political parties Conservative liberal parties Neoliberalism Neoliberal parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Political parties established in 1995 Political parties disestablished in 2008 Kim Dae-jung Roh Moo-hyun