Korea Democratic Party

For the North Korean party formerly known as the Korean Democratic Party, see Korean Social Democratic Party.

For other uses, see Minjudang.

The Korea Democratic Party (KDP; Korean: 한국민주당) was the leading opposition party in the first years of the First Republic of Korea. It existed from 1945 to 1949, when it merged with other opposition parties.

Korea Democratic Party 한국민주당
Abbreviation	KDP
Founded	1945
Dissolved	1949
Succeeded by	Democratic Nationalist Party
Headquarters	Seoul
Ideology	Nationalism (South Korea)[1] Liberalism (South Korea) Pro-Americanism[2][3] Conservatism (de facto)[A]
Political position	Right-wing[1][4][5]
Colours	Green
Politics of South Korea Political parties Elections ^ A: The KDP belongs to the Minjudangkye liberal party genealogy [ko], not the pro-Rhee conservative party genealogy [ko] of South Korea, but the actual political stance at the time was right-wing conservative.[5][6]

Korea Democratic Party
Hangul	한국민주당
Hanja	韓國民主黨
RR	Hanguk minjudang
MR	Han'guk minjudang

The U.S. military government considered the KDP a conservative group with high educational standards, and believed they sought to establish a Western-style democracy in Korea.^[7] However, modern South Korean political academia recognizes them as South Korea's first liberal party. Viewed as a party of the right, the character of the KDP was anti-communist, Confucian-conservative, and economically liberal.^[4]

History

The KDP was established in 1945 by conservative nationalists headed by Song Jin-woo who were opposed to the People's Republic of Korea government set up by Lyuh Woon-hyung, instead backing the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.^[4] After Song was assassinated later in the year, he was succeeded as leader by Kim Seong-su.^[4] The Democratic Party won a third of the seats in the Interim Legislative Assembly elections in October 1946, and although it opposed the Assembly's existence due to some of its leadership being excluded,^[8] the party provided several of the key figures in the interim administration.^[4]

However, its closeness to the American occupation force, together with its association with the landed gentry, meant that it never gained significant popular support.^[4] In the May 1948 elections the party won only 29 of the 200 seats, and although it supported Syngman Rhee in the July 1948 presidential elections, none of its members were included in his cabinet, a snub that led to the party joining the opposition.

On 10 February 1949, it merged with other groups in the legislature to form the Democratic Nationalist Party.

Electoral results

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	Position	Status
1948	Kim Seong-su	916,322	13.51	29 / 200	2nd	Opposition

See also

• Song Jin-woo (journalist)