The Reunification Democratic Party (, RDP) was a political party of

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 ...

from 1987 to 1990. The party was established in April 1987 by

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (; ; 6 January 192418 August 2009), was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his work for democracy and human ...

and

Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam (; or ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015) was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, he spent almost 30 years as one of the leaders of t ...

, splitting from the

New Korean Democratic Party The New Korean Democratic Party (, NKDP) was an opposition political party of South Korea from 1984 to 1988. It was the largest opposition party in South Korea until Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam left to form the Reunification Democratic Party. ...

. The party faced another split later that year with

and his followers organizing Peace Democratic Party. The party later merged with conservative

Democratic Justice Party The Democratic Justice Party (; DJP) was the ruling party of South Korea from 1981 to 1988. History Chun had become the country's de facto leader after leading a military coup in December 1979, and was elected president in his own right in ...

and

New Democratic Republican Party The New Democratic Republican Party ( Korean: 신민주공화당 ''Sin-minju-gonghwa-dang'') was a South Korean political party which formed in 1987 and dissolved in 1990. It was particularly strong in Hoseo, the home region of party leader Kim J ...

in January 1990. The party members who opposed the split formed the Democratic Party. The party had strong support in the Southeastern region of the country, including the

South Gyeongsang Province South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...

and the city of

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

History

The party was formed on 21 April 1987 as a split from the

and

. Despite the strong gains the party achieved in the 1985 legislative election, internal conflicts grew within the party, especially on the intensity of the struggle against the dictatorship and demand for a direct, democratic election of the president. Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung took hard-line against the Chun regime, while the erstwhile party leader,

Lee Min-woo Lee Min-woo (hangul: 이민우; born July 28, 1979), also known mononymously credited as M as a solo artist, is a South Korean entertainer, known as a member of the South Korean boy band Shinhwa. Lee was the first Shinhwa member to debut a ...

took the more conciliatory tone. The issue came to fore with the revelation of "Lee Min-woo Plan" (이민우 구상) on December 24, 1986. Lee Min-woo declared his willingness to accept the constitutional revision to the

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

. The plan was criticized by both

and

as a capitulation to the dictatorship, and were personally humiliated that Lee Min-woo hasn't discussed the plan with them prior. Growing discord culminated with the split of Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam's follower from the New Korea Democratic Party, and formation of Reunification Democratic Party in April 1987. Following the June Struggle of 1987, and the

June 29 Declaration The June 29 Declaration (), officially titled the Special Declaration for Grand National Harmony and Progress Towards a Great Nation (), was a speech by Roh Tae-woo, presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Justice Party of South Korea, on ...

, which

Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (; ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. Roh was a close ally and friend of Chun Doo-hwan, the predecessor leader ...

promised direct, democratic election of the president in the upcoming presidential election in December of that year, speculation for the potential candidacy of Kim Dae-jung for the presidency grew. The Declaration also promised amnesty to Kim Dae-jung, who was under the house-arrest and was barred from engaging in any political activity under the fabricated charge of "inciting rebellion" since 1971. While Kim Dae-jung was barred from engaging in any political activities,

emerged as the main opposition leader. Despite the effort to present the single opposition candidate for the 1987 presidential election, the negotiation between two politicians broke down. Kim Dae-jung and his followers split from the Reunification Democratic Party and created the Peace Democratic Party in October 29, less than 2 months before the election. Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam's candidacy resulted in vote-splitting of the opposition candidates, resulting in the election of

, protégé of dictator

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah as president of South Korea from 1980 to 198 ...

to take the office with 36.6% of votes. In the following 1988 legislative election, Reunification Democratic Party received a disappointing result. While the party retained electorate in the Gyeongsong South Province, winning 14 out of 15 seats in the city of

, the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...

electoral system resulted in the party coming third in terms of the seat number, despite winning more than 900,000 votes than the Peace Democratic Party.

Merged with the ruling party

Faced with the disappointing election results and the rising of Kim Dae-jung's Peace Democratic Party,

and his followers in the party decided to accept the proposal to merge the party with the ruling

and conservative

. The decision was heavily criticized from both inside and outside of the party, perceived as being tantamount to "treason", joining forces with the remnants of the military dictatorships of Park Chung-hee (represented by the New Democratic Republican Party) and Chun Doo-hwan (represented by the Democratic Justice Party). Kim replied to the criticism that one "has to enter the tiger's cave to catch the tiger". The party members who opposed the merger, including

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 ...

and

Lee Ki-taek Lee Ki-taek ( Korean: 이기택, 25 July 1937 – 20 February 2016) was a South Korean politician and parliamentarian. Started as a youth politician of New Democratic Party in 1967, he served as the Chairman of Democratic Party, a splinter gro ...

, formed the new Democratic Party in 1990 and later merged with Kim Dae-jung's Peace Democratic Party to form a new Democratic Party. Reunification Democratic Party was dissolved on 22 January 1990, joining the newly formed Democratic Liberal Party. Kim Young-sam later succeeded Roh's leadership in 1992 and became the next President.

Election results

President

Legislature

References