List of political parties in South Korea

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This article lists political parties in South Korea. South Korea has a multi-party system[1][2][3][4] in which political parties have a chance of gaining power alone.

Current Parties

Main Parties

As of March 2014, there are three political parties present in the 19th National Assembly:

Party Number of Seats in
the National Assembly		 Leader Position Comments
  Saenuri Party (NFP - New Frontier Party)
새누리당 / 새누리黨
Saenuridang		 158 Kim Moo-sung Centre-right[5][6][7] to Right-wing[8] see: Conservatism in South Korea
Conservative; formerly called the Grand National Party.
  New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD)
새정치민주연합/ 새政治民主聯合
Saejeongchi Minju Yeonhap 		130 Moon Jae-in Centre[9] to Centre-left[10] see: Liberalism in South Korea
Liberal; merged from the Democratic Party and the minor New Political Vision Party.
Justice Party 
정의당 / 正義黨
Jeongeuidang		 5 Chun Ho-sun Centre-left See: Progressivism in South Korea
Progressive; splintered from the Unified Progressive Party.

Notes:

  1. All data are current as of January 31, 2015.
  2. As of January 31, 2015 the total number of representatives is 300.
  3. As of January 31, 2015 two representatives are independents.
  4. As of January 31, 2015 five representatives have lost their positions due to various reasons and will be reelected through the next by-election scheduled on April 29, 2015.

Extra-Parliamentary Parties

Defunct Parties

Timeline of all mainstream political parties

Conservative Parties

Liberal Parties

Progressive Parties

Green Parties

Illegal/Banned Parties

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Economist, June 5, 2008, South Korea: Summer of discontent -- President Lee Myung-bak's first 100 days have not gone according to plan, Accessed Oct 19, 2013, “...none of South Korea's political parties seems to be trusted by a public concerned about rising prices and the uncertain economic outlook...”
  2. ↑ The Economist, April 1, 2004, Print edition, South Korea: South by south-east: Regionalism could be on its way out, Accessed Oct 19, 2013, “...The Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), ... has traditionally had its stronghold in the Cholla region, while the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), ...”
  3. ↑ The Economist, print edition, April 11, 2008, South Korea's election: A narrow victory for the business-friendly centre-right, Accessed Oct 19, 2013, Note: four parties are listed in this article about the 2008 election: “...The centre-right Grand National Party (GNP) ... The Liberty Forward Party (LFP), ... won 18 seats. ... United Democratic Party (UDP). ... won 152 seats in 2004, ... United New Democratic Party (UNDP) ...”
  4. ↑ The New York Times, August 21, 2006, Post-Koizumi, dream of a two-party system, Accessed Oct. 18, 2013, quote: “...This is positive. A two-party system isn't here yet, but it's a kind of dream we have...”
  5. ↑ Webster, Edward; Lambert, Rob; Beziudenhout, Andries (2011), Grounding Globalization: Labour in the Age of Insecurity, Blackwell Publishing
  6. ↑ Manyin, Mark E. (2003), South Korean Politics and Rising "Anti-Americanism": Implications for U.S. Policy Toward North Korea, Congressional Research Service
  7. ↑ The Economist, print edition, April 11, 2008, South Korea's election: A narrow victory for the business-friendly centre-right, Accessed Oct 19, 2013.
  8. ↑ Oum, Young Rae (2008), Korean American diaspora subjectivity: Gender, ethnicity, dependency, and self-reflexivity, ProQuest, p. 144
  9. ↑ Kang, Jiwon (2014-03-02). "[강지원의 뉴스! 정면승부] "국가지도자 추구하는 안철수, 의원 2명인 곳에서 뜻 펼치긴 어려워"-민주당 설훈 의원" (in Korean). YTN. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  10. ↑ Chae, Jongwon (2014-03-31). 안보·경제민주화 양축…金·安 공동대표 가능성 (in Korean). Maeil Economy. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  11. ↑ Yonhap News Agency, December 19, 2014, , “...South Korea's Constitutional Court on Friday ordered the dissolution of a pro-North Korean minor opposition party...”