Liberalism in South Korea

This article gives an overview of liberalism in South Korea. It is limited to liberal democratic parties with substantial support, mainly proven by having had a representation in parliament.

Note: the word liberal in South Korea is often used by conservative groupings (See New Right in South Korea), in the European fashion. (The Korean Liberty Party, the conservative party, uses "Liberty" as conservative Tea Partiers do in the United States.) Liberal parties (in the American sense of the term) tend to label themselves as "Democratic" or "Progressive" instead.

There has been a tradition of liberal parties since 1955, often organized around persons. Presently the Minjoo Party of Korea, and the People's Party are the main successors of the liberal parties' tradition.

N.B.: The sign ⇒ means a reference to another party in that scheme. For inclusion in this scheme it is not required for parties to label themselves as a "liberal party."

On 17 February 2008, the UNDP merged with the Democratic Party (민주당), forming the United Democratic Party (통합민주당). This was four years after the Uri Party (열린우리당)'s split from Millennium Democratic Party (새천년민주당). On July 2008 the party is renamed Democratic Party (2008) (Min-ju Dang).

In December 16, 2011, with the unity of Democratic Party, Citizens United Party and cooperation of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, formed Democratic United Party. In 2013 the party is renamed Democratic Party (민주당), while changed its official color from green to blue, the first time in 60 years.

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