Labor Party (South Korea)

The Labor Party (Korean: 노동당) is a democratic socialist political party in South Korea.

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Quick Facts Leader, Secretary-General ...

Labor Party 노동당

Leader	Na Do-won
Secretary-General	Cha Yoon-seok
Vice Leader	Song Mi-ryang
Chair of the Policy Planning Committee	Jeong Sang-cheon
Founded	2013
Merger of	New Progressive Party Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party
Headquarters	Hanheung Building, 29-28, Yeongdeungpo-dong 7-ga, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul
Newspaper	Letter from the Future
Youth wing	Committee on Youth and Students
Membership (December 2020)	11,045
Ideology	Progressivism (South Korean) Democratic socialism Until 2021: Social democracy
Political position	Left-wing Until 2021: Centre-left to left-wing
Colors	Red
National Assembly	0 / 300
Municipal Councillors	0 / 2,898
Website
laborparty.kr
Politics of South Korea Political parties Elections

Quick Facts Hangul, Hanja ...

Labor Party
Hangul	노동당
Hanja	勞動黨
Revised Romanization	Nodongdang
McCune–Reischauer	Nodongdang

History

This section needs to be updated. (February 2020)

After the New Progressive Party and the Socialist Party voted to unite in 2012, the Labor Party was officially formed the following year. It held its interim party congress on 21 July 2013.

On 5 February 2022, it was announced that the unregistered Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party agreed to merge with the Labor Party in order to create a unified socialist vision for the 2022 South Korean presidential election under candidate Lee Baek-yoon.^[1]

Ideologies and political positions

The Labor Party is a political party led by the Minjungminju (PD) faction, a non-nationalist left-wing tendency. The Labor Party officially supports "definitely left-wing politics", "environmentalism" and "democratic socialism".^[2] LP also showed a centre-left social democratic character until it absorbed the Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party.^[3] Major Labor politicians are critical of "liberal politics" (mainly seen in the Democratic, Justice, and Progressive Parties), and hold that true progressivism is only possible through socialism. LP envisions the realization of "socialist politics" beyond 'left-liberal politics' and 'conservative politics' that have dominated South Korean politics.^[4]

A Labor Party major politician, Lee Gap-yong (Korean: 이갑용; Hanja: 李甲用), has critiqued the Progressive Party and Justice Party for not being truly "progressive". According to him, the Progressive Party, classified as far-left in the South Korean political context, has "given up" socialism. (However, unlike the Progressive Party, the Labor Party is not classified as far-left because it has a critical tendency toward North Korea.)^[5]

Leadership

Hong Sehwa and An Hyo-sang, 2012
Kim Jong-cheol, 2012 (acting)
Kim Il-ung, 2012–2013
Lee Yong-gill, 2013–2015
Na Gyung-che, 2015
Choe Seung-hyeon, 2015 (acting)
Kim Sang-cheol, 2015
Koo Kyo-hyun, 2015–2016
Kim Gang-ho, 2016 (acting)
Lee Gap-yong, 2016–2018
Na Do-won, 2018–2019 (acting)
Shin Ji-hae, Yong Hae-in, 2019
Hyun Lin, 2019 (acting)
Hyun Lin, 2019–2021
Na Do-won, 2021–2022
Na Do-won, Yi Jong-hoe, 2022–present

Election results

President

More information Election, Candidate ...

Election	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
2022	Lee Baek-yun	9,176	0.03	Not elected

Legislature

More information Election, Leader ...

Election	Leader	Constituency				Party list				Seats		Position	Status
Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	No.	+/–	Position	Status
2016	Koo Kyo-hyun	46,949	0.2	0 / 253	new	91,705	0.39	0 / 47	new	0 / 300	new	11th	Extra-parliamentary
2020	Hyun-lin	15,752	0.05	0 / 253	0	34,272	0.12	0 / 47	0	0 / 300	0	19th	Extra-parliamentary
2024	Na Do-won	7,465	0.03	0 / 253	0	25,937	0.09	0 / 47	0	0 / 300	0	19th	Extra-parliamentary