Progressive Party (South Korea, 1956)
1956–1959 political party in South Korea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Progressive Party (Korean: 진보당; Hanja: 進步黨; RR: Jinbodang; MR: Chinbodang) was a short-lived moderate left political party founded after the Korean War in South Korea under the leadership of Cho Bong-am.[3] It was a major political force from 1956 to 1958, and fell apart in 1959.
Progressive Party 진보당 | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Cho Pong-am |
| General Secretary | Yun Kil-chung |
| Founded | January 26, 1956 (de facto) November 10, 1956 (de jure) |
| Dissolved | February 25, 1958 |
| Headquarters | Jongro 2-ga, Jongro-gu, South Korea |
| Membership (1956) | around 1,500[1] |
| Ideology |
|
| Political position | Centre-left |
| Progressive Party | |
| Hangul | 진보당 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 進步黨 |
| Revised Romanization | Jinbodang |
| McCune–Reischauer | Chinbodang |
History
The Progressive Party was founded in the aftermath of the Korean War under Cho's leadership. Cho and his followers were able to build a wide coalition with the country's leftist forces. Cho also successfully created coalitions with right-wing forces opposed to Syngman Rhee's dictatorship. The party's founding and moderate success in Korea's hostile political environment is considered a large result of Bong-am's personal charisma. The Progressive Party advocated peaceful unification with North Korea, through strengthening the country's democratic forces and winning in a unified Korean election. Cho called for both anti-communist and anti-authoritarian politics, as well as advocating for social welfare policies for the peasants and urban poor.[4]
In the 1956 election, Cho ran against Rhee, the anti-communist strongman president. Cho lost with 30% of the vote, which exceeded expectations. Following the election, the Progressive Party broke apart due to factionalism.[4]
Political position
The Progressive Party officially advocated social democracy, but was regarded as a liberal party.[5] In fact, scholars in South Korea evaluated that the Progressive Party and Cho Bong-am were not German "social democracy" but an American "progressive liberalism" route, which was also reported by The Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's right-wing conservative journalist. (At that time, in South Korean politics, the term "liberal" was often used by right-wing conservative and Minjudangkye forces in a similar sense to "anti-communist".)[6]
Cho, who led the party, proposed a policy to appease North Korea, affecting the Sunshine Policy of modern South Korean liberals. At the same time, however, Cho was a strong anti-communist and a believer in liberal democracy.[7]
References
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