Democratic Party (South Korea, 2000)

"Millennium Democratic Party" redirects here. For the party in East Timor, see Millennium Democratic Party (East Timor).

The Democratic Party (DP; Korean: 민주당; Hanja: 民主黨; RR: Minjudang) was a political party in South Korea. Formerly named Millennium Democratic Party (Korean: 새천년민주당; Hanja: 새千年民主黨; RR: Saecheonnyeonminjudang; MDP), it was renamed on 6 May 2005. After its dissolution, its members joined the Uri Party or the successor Democratic Party.

Democratic Party 민주당 民主黨
Abbreviation	MDP
President	Kim Dae-jung (until 2002)
Founded	20 January 2000[a] 6 May 2005[b]
Dissolved	27 June 2007
Merger of	National Congress for New Politics New People Party
Merged into	Democratic Party (2007)
Headquarters	25-4, Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
Ideology	Liberalism (South Korean) Centrist reformism Pro-Sunshine Policy Conservative liberalism[1][2] Social liberalism Third Way[3] Neo-developmental state[4] Neoliberalism[5]
Political position	Centre to centre-left
National affiliation	Alliance of DJP (2000–2001)
Colours	Blue green[c]   Turquoise[d]
Politics of South Korea Political parties Elections

Democratic Party
Hangul	민주당
Hanja	民主黨
Revised Romanization	Minjudang
McCune–Reischauer	Minjudang
Millennium Democratic Party
Hangul	새천년민주당
Hanja	새千年民主黨
Revised Romanization	Saecheonnyeon Minjudang
McCune–Reischauer	Saech'ŏnnyŏn Minjudang

History

Logo of the Millennium Democratic Party

In 2000, the party officially founded, after it merged of National Congress for New Politics and New People Party led by Lee In-je and a number of conservative minded politicians joined it. In the 2000 Parliamentary election the party came second winning 115 seats.

Roh Moo-hyun was elected as president in 2002, but he subsequently left the party after he inaugurated as president and his supporters formed the Uri Party in 2003.

The MDP lost majority when Roh was impeached in March 2004 by the National Assembly for illegal electioneering and incompetence charges with support from the Grand National Party, losing 53 seats to a total of only 9 seats in the 2004 parliamentary election. Roh Moo-hyun was later re-instated by the Constitutional Court, and served as president until the end of his term.

By June 2007, much of the party joined the Uri Party, while the New People faction merged the party with the Central Reform United New Party to form a new Democratic Party.

Political position

The Democratic Party is a political party led by Kim Dae-jung individual charisma and is generally classified as "liberalism" (Korean: 자유주의) or "conservative liberalism" (Korean: 보수자유주의 or 보수적 자유주의).^[6][7] Later in 2017, South Korea's centre-right conservative politician Ha Tae-keung said of Kim Dae-jung, "He devoted his life to democracy and the market economy in Korea", adding, "He is a big adult in the conservative camp".^[8]

South Korean centrist conservative-liberal politician Sohn Hak-kyu said "the (Democratic Party of Korea's) DJ period was a complete 'centrist', but the Roh Moo-hyun government and the Moon Jae-in government were on the 'left-leaning' side". (For your information, "DJ" is an abbreviation for "Dae-jung".)^[9]

Kim Dae-jung and the Democratic Party enacted the 'Domestic Violence Prevention Act' (Korean: 가정폭력금지법) and the 'Anti Male and Female Discrimination Act' (Korean: 남녀차별금지법), and established the 'Ministry of Gender Equality" (Korean: 여성부). Also, Kim Dae-jung himself was a feminist.^[10] On the other hand, he pursued a typical conservative economic agenda and was called a "Neoliberal Revolutionist" (Korean: 신자유주의 혁명가).^[11] Kim Dae-jung also was a supporter of the New Labour In the United Kingdom and of the Third Way and an Neo-developmental state.^[12]

Presidential election primary

Candidates

This is a list of official pre-registered candidates that declared their 2007 presidential bid.

Name	Occupation	Results	Notes
Cho Sun-hyeong(조순형)	Member for Seongbuk-gu-eul		led the impeachment of Roh Moo-hyun in 2004
Kim Min-seok(김민석)	Former Assembly member		Former Seoul mayoral candidate in 2002 local body election(when Lee Myung Bak was elected that position)
Lee In-je Archived 7 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine(이인제)	Member for Nonsan, Geumsan and Gyeryung		Presidential candidate of election 1997
Shin Guk-hwan(신국환)	Member for Munkyeong and Yecheon		Former Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy of Roh's Administration
Jang Sang(장 상)	Former leader of Democratic party		Former president of Ewha Womans University

• Kim Yeong-hwan(김영환), former Assembly member and also former Minister of Science and Technology of the Kim Dae-jung Administration has been declared not to run its presidential primary on 31 August 2007^[13]

Election results

President

Election	Candidate	Votes	%	Result
2002	Roh Moo-hyun	12,014,277	48.9	Elected

Legislature

Election	Leader	Constituency				Party list				Seats		Position	Status
		Votes	%	Seats	+/-	Votes	%	Seats	+/-	No.	+/–
2000	Kim Dae-jung	6,780,625	35.87	96 / 227	new			19 / 46	new	115 / 273	new	2nd	Government
2004	Cho Soon-hyung	1,698,368	7.96	5 / 243	91	1,510,178	7.09	4 / 56	15	9 / 299	106	4th	Opposition

Local

Election	Metropolitan mayor/Governor	Provincial legislature	Municipal mayor	Municipal legislature
2002	4 / 16	143 / 682	44 / 227
2006	2 / 16	80 / 733	20 / 230	276 / 2,888

See also

• List of political parties in South Korea
• Centrist reformism
• Politics of South Korea
• Elections in South Korea
• Liberalism in South Korea

Notes

1. as Millennium Democratic Party
2. as Democratic Party
3. as Democratic Party
4. as Millennium Democratic Party