Korea Democratic Party 한국민주당 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | KDP |
| Founded | 1945 |
| Dissolved | 1949 |
| Succeeded by | Democratic Nationalist Party |
| Headquarters | Seoul |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Right-wing[1][4][5] |
| Colours | Green |
^ A: The KDP belongs to theMinjudangkye liberal party genealogy [ko], not thepro-Rheeconservative party genealogy [ko] of South Korea, but the actual political stance at the time was right-wing conservative.[5][6] | |
| Korea Democratic Party | |
| Hangul | 한국민주당 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 韓國民主黨 |
| RR | Hanguk minjudang |
| MR | Han'guk minjudang |
TheKorea Democratic Party (KDP;Korean: 한국민주당) was the leading opposition party in the first years of theFirst Republic of Korea. It existed from 1945 to 1949, when it merged with other opposition parties.
TheU.S. military government considered the KDP aconservative group with high educational standards, and believed they sought to establish aWestern-style democracy in Korea.[7] However, modern South Korean political academia recognizes them asSouth Korea's first liberal party. Viewed as a party of theright, the character of the KDP was anti-communist,Confucian-conservative, and economically liberal.[4]
The KDP was established in 1945 by conservative nationalists headed bySong Jin-woo who were opposed to thePeople's Republic of Korea government set up byLyuh Woon-hyung, instead backing theProvisional Government of the Republic of Korea.[4] After Song was assassinated later in the year, he was succeeded as leader byKim Seong-su.[4] The Democratic Party won a third of the seats in theInterim Legislative Assembly elections in October 1946, and although it opposed the Assembly's existence due to some of its leadership being excluded,[8] the party provided several of the key figures in the interim administration.[4]
However, its closeness to the American occupation force, together with its association with the landed gentry, meant that it never gained significant popular support.[4] In theMay 1948 elections the party won only 29 of the 200 seats, and although it supportedSyngman Rhee in theJuly 1948 presidential elections, none of its members were included in his cabinet, a snub that led to the party joining the opposition.
On 10 February 1949, it merged with other groups in the legislature to form theDemocratic Nationalist Party.
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Kim Seong-su | 916,322 | 13.51 | 29 / 200 | 2nd | Opposition |
In December 1945, the United States Army Military Government proscribed it in the south, preferring to work with right-wing nationalist groups such as the Korea Democratic Party.
... and the pro-American, right-wing movement, the Korean Democratic Party (KDP) were actively vying for political control. In North Korea, however, ..
Widening divisions between Korean political rivals, most notably Kim Il-song's communist North Korean Workers' Party and Syngman Rhee's pro-American Korean Democratic Party (KDP) based in South Korea, complicated the task of managing a ...
... and then after the war they rallied around the Korean Democratic Party, a conservative right-wing party. ...
... Now led by members of the Korean Democratic Party, it retained nearly 80% of police who had formerly served under the Japanese. The right-wing outlook of the Korean Democratic Party kept conservative control in politics, the military, ...
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