Democratic Party (South Korea, 1991)
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The Democratic Party (; DP) was a political party of
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
from 1991 to 1995.


History

The party was formed by the merger of New Democratic Unionist Party (NDUP) of
Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (, ; 6 January 192418 August 2009) was a South Korean politician, activist and statesman who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. Kim entered politics as a member of the new wing of the Democratic Pa ...
, and Democratic Party of Lee Ki-taek (aka Little Democrats), as a part of the opposition union. During that time, NDUP, the main opposition, faced a difficulties after they lost in 1991 local elections. Little Democratic Party, a splinter group formed by the dissidents of
Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam (, ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015), often referred to by his initials YS, was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, Kim spent almost 30 ye ...
's United Democratic Party, was struggling with its few seats. On 16 September 1991, both parties declared to be combined and re-founded as Democratic Party. Both Kim Dae-jung (DJ; Chairman of NDUP) and Lee Ki-taek (KT; Chairman of Little Democrats), was elected as the Co-Presidents of the new party. Prior to the presidential election in 1992, DJ defeated Lee and elected as the party's presidential candidate. He was widely criticised for calling rural voters as "pro- Democratic Liberal Party (DLP; the then ruling party)" and/or "pro-
Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (, ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1987, he became the first president to be directly elected under the cur ...
", and lost to DLP's Kim Young-sam. DJ subsequently resigned his party presidency and retired from the politics. KT then solely elected as the new president on 11 March 1993. The party then absorbed
New Korea Party The New Korea Party (NKP; ) was founded by the merging of Roh Tae-woo's Democratic Justice Party, Kim Young-sam's Reunification Democratic Party and Kim Jong-pil's New Democratic Republican Party to form the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP; ). It ...
of Lee Jong-chan in the early 1995, and won the local elections in 1995. However, shortly after, DJ officially returned to politics, and conflicts were sparked. The party's pro-DJ factions, not excluding DJ himself, left and founded a new party, named National Congress for New Politics (NCNP). On 21 December, the party merged with New Party for Reform, and re-built as United Democratic Party, who then became one of the predecessor of the incumbent
Liberty Korea 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 Hann ...
.


Leadership


Party Presidents


Election results


President


Legislature


Local


References

{{South Korean political parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Democratic parties in South Korea Liberal parties Political parties established in 1991 Political parties disestablished in 1995