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.
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.
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".)[4]
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.[5] On the other hand, he pursued a typical conservative economic agenda and was called a "Neoliberal Revolutionist" (Korean: 신자유주의 혁명가).[6]
Presidential election primary
Candidates
This is a list of official pre-registered candidates that declared their 2007 presidential bid.
^조희연, ed. (1998). 한국의민주주의와사회운동: 비판・실천담론의복원과재구성을위하여. 당대. p. 52. ISBN9788981630379. ... 90 년대 김대중 정부 는 ' 중도 보수적 자유주의 ' 적 성격 을 지니고 있다는 것이다 . ...
^조희연, ed. (2002). 국가 폭력, 민주주의 투쟁, 그리고 희생: 한국 민주주의 와 사회 운동 의 동학, 2. 함께 읽는 책. p. 503. ISBN9788990369079. ... 김대중 과 국민 회의 의 집권 은 김영삼 세력 에 비해 상대적 으로 진보적 이라 할 수 있는 보수적 자유주의 세력 ...
^하태경 "DJ, 빨갱이 꼬리표 떼야…보수진영 어른으로 모셔야" [Ha Tae-keung said, "Let's stop stigmatizing DJ as 'communist' ... We should treat him as an 'adult of the conservative camp'."]. Yonhap News Agency. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
^"DJ 때 중도였던 민주당, 노무현·문재인 들어 좌편향 심화" [During the DJ period, the Democratic Party, which was in the centre (political position), became left-leaning after Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in.]. JoongAng Ilbo. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2021.