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

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 ...

, splitting from the New Korean Democratic Party. The party faced another split later that year with Kim Dae-jung 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 1990. History Chun Doo-hwan had become the country's de facto leader after leading a military coup in December 1979, and was elected president in his own r ...

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

South Gyeongsang Province South Gyeongsang Province (, ) 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 Heritage Site Haeinsa, a Buddhist temple tha ...

and the city of

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

History

The party was formed on 21 April 1987 as a split from the New Korean Democratic Party by Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung. 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 (; born July 28, 1979), also known by the stage name M, is a South Korean entertainer and singer. He is best known as a member of the South Korean boy band Shinhwa. Lee was the first Shinhwa member to debut as a solo artist in 20 ...

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

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

. The plan was criticized by both Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung 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, which

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 ...

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, Kim Young-sam 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 (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...

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 Busan, the

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

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, Kim Young-sam and his followers in the party decided to accept the proposal to merge the party with the ruling

and conservative New Democratic Republican Party. 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 from 2003 to 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

and Lee Ki-taek, 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