Democratic Party 민주당 Minju-dang President Chung Se-gyun Secretary general Lee Mi-kyeong Assembly leader Lee Kang Rea Founded February 17, 2008 (2008-02-17) Headquarters 15-16 Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea Ideology Korean liberalism, nationalism, labor rights, income redistribution, protectionism, Sunshine Policy International affiliation None Official colours Green Seats in the National Assembly 84 Website minjoo.kr Politics of South Korea Political parties Elections

Democratic Party Hangul 민주당 Hanja 民主黨 Revised Romanization Minjudang McCune–Reischauer Minjudang

The Democratic Party (DEP) is a socially liberal political party in South Korea. The Democratic Party is the main opposition in the 18th Assembly, lasting from 2008 to 2012.

Contents 1 History 2 Legislative violence 3 Presidents of DEP 4 Also see 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

The party was originally formed as the Uri Party (Yeollin Uri-dang) when loyalists to president Roh Moo-hyun in the Millennium Democratic Party chose to break ranks from other party members who showed lukewarm support for the administration. Some 42 out of 103 lawmakers of the Millennium Democratic Party joined the new party, and 5 lawmakers from the Grand National Party also joined, seeking to complete political reforms. As a result of the 2004 Parliamentary election, the party achieved its first nationwide majority in the legislature by winning 152 of 299 seats.

On August 18, 2007, the delegates of the Uri Party decided to disband the party and merge with the newly-created liberal party called the United New Democratic Party (Daetonghap Minjusin-dang). After a year, the United New Democratic Party once again merged back with the Democratic Party previously know as the Millennium Democratic Party on February 17, 2008 to form the United Democratic Party (Daetonghap Minju sindang).^[1][2] On July 2008 the party had changed its name to the Democratic Party.

[edit] Legislative violence

Despite being, effectively, members of the government, members of the Democratic Party have often participated in anti-government protests, and (along with other opposition parties), has been one of the foremost practitioners of legislative violence in Korea. Some of these protests have included sit-ins and violent physical confrontations in the National Assembly,^[3][4][5] as well as outdoor demonstrations. In 2008, members of the party participated in massive protests against the importation of American beef, and in 2009, party members participated in an anti-government protest to commemorate the June 10 anti-government protests of the 1980's. The Democratic Party also announced that any attempts to reopen the Assembly (it had blocked reopening to protest a number of issues) would be regarded as a "declaration of war," and that party members should be prepared to "die while fighting."^[6]

[edit] Presidents of DEP

1. Gim Hyo-seok (February 17, 2008 - May 29, 2008)
2. Chung Se-gyun (May 30, 2008 - Incumbent)

[edit] Also see

• Our Open Party
• United New Democratic Party

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site (Korean)

v • d • e Political parties in South Korea Numbers in brackets indicate numbers of seats in the current National Assembly Right-wing Grand National (169) · Liberty Forward (17) · Pro-Park (8) Centrist Democratic (87) · Creative Korea (2) Left-wing Democratic Labor (5) · New Progressive (1) · Socialist (no seats) Politics of South Korea · List of political parties by country · Politics portal

This article about a Korean political party is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e