Democratic Korea Party

The Democratic Korea Party (Korean: 민주한국당; Hanja: 民主韓國黨; RR: Minjuhangukdang, DKP) was a political party in South Korea.

Democratic Korea Party 민주한국당
Founded	17 January 1981
Dissolved	29 April 1988
Headquarters	Seoul, South Korea
Ideology	Liberalism (South Korean)
Party flag
Politics of South Korea Political parties Elections

History

The DKP was established on 17 January 1981 following a meeting of fourteen former members of the New Democratic Party on 22 November 1980.^[1] Yu Chi-song was elected party president, and its candidate for the February 1981 presidential elections, in which he finished second to the incumbent president Chun Doo-hwan.

In the March 1981 parliamentary elections the DKP received 21.6% of the vote, winning 81 seats and emerging as the second-largest party to Chun's Democratic Justice Party. The party was widely perceived as being under the control of the Chun Doo-hwan's government to preserve the pretense of democratic competition between parties. The party was not recognised by Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam as they both were barred from running elections.

In the 1985 elections the party was reduced to 35 seats. The party received just 0.2% of the vote in the 1988 elections, failing to win a seat. It was subsequently deregistered on 29 April 1988.^[2]

Election results

Legislature

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats				Position	Status
				Constituency	Party list	Total	+/–
1981	Yu Chi-song	3,495,829	21.57	57 / 184	24 / 92	81 / 276	new	2nd	Opposition
1985		3,930,966	19.68	26 / 184	9 / 92	35 / 276	46	3rd	Opposition
1988		32,799	0.17	0 / 224	0 / 75	0 / 299	35	9th	Extra-parliamentary

References

1. Haruhiro Fukui (1985) Political parties of Asia and the Pacific, Greenwood Press, p666
2. 大韓民國選擧史 p124