Democratic Party (South Korea, 1991)

The Democratic Party (Korean: 민주당) was a political party of South Korea from 1991 to 1995.

Democratic Party 민주당
Abbreviation	DP
President	Kim Dae-jung (1991-1992)
Founded	16 September 1991
Dissolved	21 December 1995
Merger of	New Democratic Unionist Party Democratic Party
Merged into	National Congress for New Politics (majority) United Democratic Party (minority)
Ideology	Liberalism Social conservatism
Political position	Centre
Colours	Red   Green   Blue (customary)
National Assembly (1992 election results)	97 / 299
Politics of South Korea Political parties Elections

History

The party was formed by the merger of New Democratic Unionist Party (NDUP) of Kim Dae-jung, and Democratic Party of Lee Ki-taek (aka Little Democrats), as a part of the opposition union. During that time, NDUP, the main opposition, faced a difficulties after they lost in 1991 local elections. Little Democratic Party, a splinter group formed by the dissidents of Kim Young-sam's United Democratic Party, was struggling with its few seats.

On 16 September 1991, both parties declared to be combined and re-founded as Democratic Party.[1] Both Kim Dae-jung (DJ; Chairman of NDUP) and Lee Ki-taek (KT; Chairman of Little Democrats), was elected as the Co-Presidents of the new party.[1]

Prior to the presidential election in 1992, DJ defeated Lee and elected as the party's presidential candidate. He was widely criticised for calling rural voters as "pro-Democratic Liberal Party (DLP; the then ruling party)" and/or "pro-Roh Tae-woo",[2] and lost to DLP's Kim Young-sam. DJ subsequently resigned his party presidency and retired from the politics.[3] KT then solely elected as the new president on 11 March 1993.[4]

The party then absorbed New Korea Party of Lee Jong-chan in the early 1995,[5] and won the local elections in 1995.[6] However, shortly after, DJ officially returned to politics, and conflicts were sparked.[7] The party's pro-DJ factions, not excluding DJ himself, left and founded a new party, named National Congress for New Politics (NCNP).[8] On 21 December, the party merged with New Party for Reform, and re-built as United Democratic Party, who then became one of the predecessor of the incumbent Liberty Korea Party.

Leadership

Party Presidents

No.	President(s)	Period
1	Kim Dae-jung Lee Ki-taek	16 September 1991 – 11 March 1993[lower-alpha 1]
2	Lee Ki-taek	11 March 1993 – 28 August 1995
3	Hong Young-ki Park Il	29 August 1995 – 14 December 1995

1. Kim Dae-jung resigned on 18 December 1992 due to the election defeats.

Election results

Presidential election

Election	Candidate		Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome
1992	Kim Dae-jung		8,041,284	33.82%	Lost N

Legislative elections

Election	Total seats won	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome of election	Status	Election leader
1992	97 / 299	6,004,578	29.2%	26 seats; Coalition (Democrats-RNP)	Opposition	Kim Dae-jung Lee Ki-taek

Local election

Election	Metropolitan mayor/Governor	Provincial legislature	Municipal mayor	Election leader
1995	4 / 15	333 / 970	84 / 230	Lee Ki-taek

References

1. "민주당 공식출범". 16 September 1991. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
2. "후보가 유세장서 「유권자 비판」". 5 December 1992. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
3. "김대중씨 "정계은퇴 선언" 안팎". 19 December 1992. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
4. "민주당 새대표 이기택씨". 12 March 1993. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
5. "민주, 새한국당—재야 통합 전당대회". 25 February 1995. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
6. "부산 文正秀 경남 金爀珪씨 당선". 28 June 1995. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
7. "민주, 새한국당—재야 통합 전당대회". 18 July 1995. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
8. "새정치국민회의 창당…제1야당 출범 김대통령에 회담 제의". 6 September 1995. Retrieved 9 September 2019.