Democratic Justice Party

The Democratic Justice Party (DJP) (민주정의당) was the ruling party of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. It was formed in 1980 as the Democratic Republican Party and was the political vehicle for Chun Doo-hwan.

Democratic Justice Party 민주정의당 Minju Jeonguidang
Leader	Roh Tae-woo (1985-1990)
Founder	Chun Doo-hwan
Founded	1 September 1980
Dissolved	22 January 1990
Preceded by	Democratic Republican Party
Merged into	Democratic Liberal Party
Headquarters	Seoul, South Korea
Ideology	Korean nationalism Anti-communism Economic liberalism Neoliberalism Authoritarianism (until 1987) National conservatism (from 1987)
Political position	Right-wing[1] to far-right[2]
Colours	Light blue and red
Politics of South Korea Political parties Elections

Democratic Justice Party
Hangul	민주정의당
Hanja	民主正義黨
Revised Romanization	Minju Jeong-uidang
McCune–Reischauer	Minju Chŏng-ŭitang
DJP
Hangul	민정당
Hanja	民正黨
Revised Romanization	Minjeongdang
McCune–Reischauer	Minchŏngtang

History

When 1979, Park Chung-hee's assassination, Chun Doo-hwan of the party created it the 'Democratic Justice Party' in 1980. Even though a less authoritarian constitution was enacted that year, the political system was rigged heavily in favor of the DJP. The new Fifth Republic Constitution barred the President from reelection with a single seven year term. Chun announced retirement in 1987 and transferred power to Roh Tae-woo but refused to have any political reform.

The situation changed in 1987, when DJP presidential candidate Roh Tae-woo promised that year's presidential election would be free and democratic. Roh became the first direct elected president under free and fair election in December 1987. In 1990, the DJP merged with Kim Young Sam's Reunification Democratic Party and Kim Jong-pil's New Democratic Republican Party to form the Democratic Liberal Party.

Election results

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate		Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome
1981	Chun Doo-hwan		4,755 (electoral vote)	90.2%	Elected
1987	Roh Tae-woo		8,282,738	36.6% (direct election)	Elected

Legislative elections

Election	Total seats won	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome of election	Election leader
1981	151 / 276	5,776,624	35.6%	83 seats; Majority	Chun Doo-hwan
1985	148 / 276	7,040,811	34.0%	3 seats; Majority	Chun Doo-hwan
1988	125 / 299	6,675,494	34.0%	23 seats; Minority	Roh Tae-woo

References

1. Kim, Youngmi (2011), The Politics of Coalition in Korea: Between institutions and culture, Routledge, p. 36
2. 韓國言論 100年史, 한국 언론인 연합회 (Federation of Korean Reporter), 2006, p. 176