The Democratic Party (DP; ), formerly the Democratic United Party (DUP; ) until 2013, was a liberal political party in

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 ...

, and for the duration of its existence the country's main opposition force. On 15 December 2011, the Democratic Party, which had been the main opposition in the 18th Assembly, merged with the minor Citizens Unity Party to form the DUP. The Democratic United Party had strong connections with the Federation of Korean Trade Unions. The forming of the party took place against the background of the forthcoming April 2012 legislative election, in which the centre-left opposition sought to defeat the ruling Saenuri Party. At the party's first congress on 15 January 2012, the DUP voted

Han Myeong-sook Han Myeong-sook (; ; born March 24, 1944) is a South Korean politician who served as the Prime Minister of South Korea, prime minister of South Korea from 2006 to 2007. A former member of the United New Democratic Party (UNDP), she was South Ko ...

chairwoman of the supreme council. Han was from 2006 to 2007 South Korea's first and so far only female

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. Han Myeong-sook vowed to retaliate against the Supreme Prosecutors' Office of South Korea for hiding corruption and malpractice by the

Lee Myung-bak Lee Myung-bak (; born 19 December 1941), often referred to by his initials MB, is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the tenth president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engi ...

administration. The New Politics Alliance for Democracy followed the Party's position.

List of leaders

Chairpersons

*''Preceding party'': Democratic Party (2008) :: Won Hye-young and Lee Yong-sun (''Interim'', 21 November 2011 – 16 January 2012) #

(16 January 2012 – 16 April 2012) #* Moon Sung-keun (''Interim'', 17 April 2012 – 3 May 2012) #*

Park Jie-won Park Jie-won (; born 5 June 1942) is a South Korean politician who served as Director of the National Intelligence Service. He was the chief presidential secretary to President Kim Dae-jung, and served as the Minister of Ministry of Culture ...

(''Interim'', 4 May 2012 – 8 June 2012) # Lee Hae-chan (9 June 2012 – 18 November 2012) #*

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (, ; born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the Chief ...

(''Interim'', 18 November 2012 – 28 December 2012) #* Park Ki-choon (''Interim'', 28 December 2012 – 9 January 2013) #* Moon Hee-sang (''Emergency Response Commission'', 9 January 2013 – 4 May 2013) # Kim Han-gil (since 4 May 2013) *''Succeeding party'': New Politics Alliance for Democracy

Assembly leaders

# Kim Jin-pyo (23 December 2011 – 4 May 2012) #

(4 May 2012 – 21 December 2012) # Park Ki-choon (21 December 2012 – 15 May 2013) # Jeon Byeong-hun (since 15 May 2013)

Election results

President

Legislature

Notes

References

{{South Korean political parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Democratic parties in South Korea Political parties established in 2011 Korean nationalist parties Progressive Alliance