The Democratic Party (; DP) was a liberal

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

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 ...

. Formerly named United Democratic Party (; UDP), it was the main opposition party in the 18th Assembly. In late 2011, it merged into the Democratic United Party.

History

The party was originally formed as 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 ...

(''Yeollin Uri-dang'') when loyalists to president Roh Moo-hyun in the

Millennium Democratic Party The Democratic Party (; DP) was a political party in South Korea. Formerly named Millennium Democratic Party (; MDP), it was renamed in May 6, 2005. After its dissolution, its members joined the Uri Party or the successor Democratic Party. Hi ...

chose to break ranks from other party members who showed lukewarm support for the administration. Some 42 out of 103 lawmakers of the Millennium Democratic Party joined the new party, and 5 lawmakers from the Grand National Party also joined, seeking to complete political reforms. As a result of the 2004 Parliamentary election, the party won an outright majority in the National Assembly by winning 152 of 299 seats. It was the first time in over 40 years that a centre-left party had won a majority in the legislature. On 18 August 2007, the delegates of the Uri Party decided to disband the party and merge with the newly created liberal party called the Grand Unified Democratic New Party (). After a year, the Grand Unified Democratic New Party merged with the Democratic Party, previously known as the Millennium Democratic Party on 17 February 2008, to form the United Democratic Party (''Tonghapminjudang''). In July 2008, the party changed its name to the Democratic Party. In local elections 2010, the Democratic Party scored a victory in eight mayoral and gubernatorial posts, including the Inchon mayorship. On 16 December 2011, the DP merged with the minor Citizens Unity Party to form the Democratic United Party. The

Korean Confederation of Trade Unions The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), literally translated as National Democratic Confederation of Trade Unions, also known as Minju-nochong ( ko, 민주노총; acronym for ''KCTU'' in Korean language) is a national trade union centr ...

also participated in the forming.

Presidents of DP

*''Preceding party'': United New Democratic Party & Democratic Party (2007) #

Son Hak-Gyu 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 Gye ...

& Park Sang-Chun (17 February 2008 – 29 May 2008) # Chung Se-kyun (30 May 2008 – 3 October 2010) #

Son Hak-gyu 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 Gye ...

(3 October 2010 - Incumbent) *''Succeeding party'': Democratic United Party

Election results

References

External links

Video on South Korea-US Relations
from th
Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital ArchivesOfficial site
{{South Korean political parties Defunct political parties in South Korea Defunct liberal political parties Democratic parties in South Korea Korean nationalist parties