The Liberal Unification Party, also translated as the Liberty Unification Party (), is a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

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 ...

established in 2016. Representatives of a range of Christian organizations, including the evangelical Christian Council of Korea and the Communion of Churches in Korea, attended the party's founding convention. The party has changed its name multiple times. The party was founded in 2016 as the Christian Liberty Party (), and later added "unification" to its name in 2020, renaming to Christian Liberty Unification Party (). In 2021, the party took on the name National Revolutionary Party. In 2022, the party came to its current name, Liberty Unification Party.

Party history

Legislative elections

The party had one representative in the 19th

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, Lee Yun-seok, formerly a member of the

Minjoo Party of Korea The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK or DP; , ) is a Liberalism, liberal list of political parties in South Korea, political party in South Korea. The DPK and its rival, the People Power Party (South Korea), People Power Party (PPP), form the two ...

. Announcing his defection to the new party, Lee stated that the Korean church was being threatened by the intrusion of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

and

Islamic culture Islamic cultures or Muslim cultures refers to the historic cultural practices that developed among the various peoples living in the Muslim world. These practices, while not always religious in nature, are generally influenced by aspects of Islam ...

. The party also promotes the restoration of laws against adultery. In a party advertisement for the 2016 parliamentary elections, actress Seo Jung-hee stated that "the revival of adultery law is a quintessential issue", and that voters should "support heCLP to protect our families from homosexuality and Muslims." While campaigning during the 20th session of the National Assembly, the CLUP issued leaflets distributed to Korean households that made

Islamophobic Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

statements, claiming that Muslims in Korea will make Korea a "terrorist state", that Muslims will rape Korean women, and that they pose a security threat to the nation. The CLUP was represented in the 20th Session of the

with one MP:

Lee Eun-Jae Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

. Lee Eun-Jae is a former parliamentarian in the 18th and 20th Session. In 2008 18th National Assembly election, she was elected as a proportional representative of the Grand National Party. During her time, she was estranged from the ruling conservative party for physically assaulting

Unified Progressive Party The Unified Progressive Party (UPP; ) is a banned political party in South Korea. It was founded on 13 December 2011 as a merger of the Democratic Labor Party, the People's Participation Party of Rhyu Si-min, and a faction of the New Progre ...

MP Lee Jung-Hee. On March 23, 2020, Lee Eun-Jae left the main conservative party and became the first parliamentarian for the CLUP. However, she was swiftly kicked out because it was found out that Lee is actually Buddhist. Lee then worked for the Korea Economic Party () and is no longer a member of parliament, losing the

2020 South Korean legislative election Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 15 April 2020. All 300 members of the National Assembly were elected, 253 from first-past-the-post constituencies and 47 from proportional party lists. They were the first elections held under ...

. Lee Yun-seok and Lee Eun-jae only had brief stints with the Party, both leaving the Party within six months and never representing the CLUP in an election campaign. The Liberty Unification Party was once again represented in Parliament after former

People Power "People power" is a political slogan denoting the Populism, populist driving force of any social movement which invokes the authority of grassroots opinion and Will (philosophy), willpower, usually in opposition to that of conventionally organis ...

lawmaker Hwangbo Seung-hee joined the Party on 8 March 2024. Hwangbo contested the April 2024 Parliament election as a proportional representative candidate for the Party, but lost her seat.

Election results

Legislature

Logos

기독자유당 로고.svg, Christian Liberal Party 기독자유통일당.svg, Christian Liberty Unification Party 국민혁명당 로고.svg, National Revolutionary Party

References

{{South Korean political parties 2016 establishments in South Korea Anti-Islam political parties in South Korea Anti-Islam sentiment in South Korea Christian political parties Conservative parties in South Korea Evangelical Christianity and politics Evangelicalism in South Korea Far-right political parties in South Korea Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in South Korea Political parties established in 2016 Political parties in South Korea Protestant political parties Right-wing populism in South Korea