Progressivism in South Korea

Progressivism in South Korea is broadly associated with social democracy, left-wing nationalism[1] and communism.[2]

Progressive parties

Timeline of all mainstream political parties

• Preparatory Committee for National Construction → People's Party of Korea → People's Labor Party (1945–1950)
• Workers' Party of South Korea (1946–1953)
• Socialist Party (1951–1953)
• Progressive Party (1956–1958)
• United Socialist Party of Korea (1961–1967)
• Hangyore Democratic Party (1988–1991)
• People's Party (1988)
• The People's Party (1990–1992)
• People's Victory 21 → Democratic Labor Party (1997–2011)
• Youth Progressive Party → Socialist Party → Korea Socialist Party → Socialist Party (1998–2012)
• New Progressive Party (2008–2012)
• Justice Party (2012–)

• Peace and Justice (2018)

• Green Party Korea (2012–)
• Labor Party (2013–)
• People's United Party (2016–2017)
• New People's Party (2017)
• Minjung Party (2017–)
• Our Future (2017–)
• Basic Income Party (2020-)

Banned parties

• Progressive Party (1956–1958)
• Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front (1969–1985)
• National Democratic Front of South Korea (1985–2005)
• Unified Progressive Party[3] (2011–2014)

Major progressive parties election results of South Korea

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome	Party mame
1952	Cho Pong-am	797,504	11.4%	Defeated N	Independent
1956	Cho Pong-am	2,163,808	30.0%	Defeated N	Independent
1987	Baik Ki-wan	Quit midway through			Independent
1992	Baik Ki-wan	238,648	1.0%	Defeated N	Independent
1997	Kwon Young-ghil	306,026	1.2%	Defeated N	People's Victory 21
2002	Kwon Young-ghil	957,148	3.9%	Defeated N	Democratic Labor Party
2007	Kwon Young-ghil	712,121	3.0%	Defeated N	Democratic Labor Party
	Geum Min	18,223	0.07%	Defeated N	Korea Socialist Party
2012	Lee Jung-hee	Quit midway through			Unified Progressive Party
	Kim So-yeon	16,687	0.05%	Defeated N	Independent
	Kim Soon-ja	46,017	0.15%	Defeated N	Independent
2017	Sim Sang-jung	2,017,458	6.17%	Defeated N	Justice Party
	Kim Sun-dong	27,229	0.08%	Defeated N	People's United Party

Legislative elections

Election	Total seats	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome	Election leader	Party name
1950	2 / 210	89,413	1.3%	new 2 seats; minority	Jo So-ang	Socialist Party
1960	4 / 233	541,021	6.0%	new 4 seats; minority	Seo Sang-il	Social Mass Party
	1 / 233	57,965	0.6%	new 1 seats; minority	Jeon Jin-han	Korea Socialist Party
1967	1 / 175	249,561	2.3%	new 1 seats; minority	Seo Min-ho	Mass Party
	0 / 175	104,975	1.0%	new 0 seats; minority	Kim Cheol	Unified Socialist Party
1971	0 / 204	59,359	0.5%	1 seats; minority	Ri Mong	Mass Party
	0 / 204	97,398	0.9%	0 seats; minority	Kim Cheol	Unified Socialist Party
1981	2 / 276	524,361	3.2%	new 2 seats; minority	Ko Chong-hun	Democratic Socialist Party
	0 / 276	122,778	0.7%	new 0 seats; minority	Kim Cheol	Socialist Party
1985	1 / 276	288,863	1.4%	new 1 seats; minority	Ko Chong-hun	New Politics Socialist Party
1988	0 / 299	65,650	0.3%	new 0 seats; minority	Jeong Tae-yun	Party of the people
	1 / 299	251,236	1.3%	new 0 seats; minority	Ye Chun-ho	Hangyore Democratic Party
1992	0 / 229	319,041	1.5%	new 0 seats; minority	Lee U-jae	People's Party
2000	0 / 273	223,261	1.2%	new 0 seats; minority	Kwon Young-ghil	Democratic Labor Party
	0 / 273	125,082	0.7%	new 0 seats; minority	Choi Hyeok	Youth Progressive Party
2004	10 / 299	2,774,061	13.0%	10 seats; minority	Kwon Young-ghil	Democratic Labor Party
	0 / 299	47,311	0.22%	0 seats; minority	Won Yong-su	Socialist Party
2008	5 / 299	973,445	5.68%	5 seats; minority	Cheon Yeong-se	Democratic Labor Party
	0 / 299	504,466	2.94%	new 0 seats; minority	Roh Hoe-chan Sim Sang-jung	New Progressive Party
	0 / 299	35,496	0.20%	0 seats; minority	Choi Gwang-Eun	Korea Socialist Party
2012	13 / 300	2,198,405	10.3%	new 13 seats; minority	Lee Jung-hee	Unified Progressive Party
	0 / 300	243,065	1.13%	0 seats; minority	Hong Sehwa An Hyo-sang	New Progressive Party
2016	0 / 300	91,705	0.38%	0 seats; minority	Koo Kyo-hyun	Labor Party
	6 / 300	1,719,891	7.23%	new 6 seats; minority	Sim Sang-jung	Justice Party
	0 / 300	145,624	0.61%	0 seats; minority	Lee Gwang-seok	People's United Party
2020	6 / 300	2,697,956	9.7%	6 seats; minority	Sim Sang-jung	Justice Party

Local elections

Election	Metropolitan mayor/Governor	Provincial legislature	Municipal mayor	Municipal legislature	Party name
3rd (2002)	0 / 16	11 / 682	2 / 232	N/A	Democratic Labor Party
4th (2006)	0 / 16	15 / 733	0 / 230	66 / 2,888	Democratic Labor Party
5th (2010)	0 / 16	24 / 761	3 / 228	115 / 2,888	Democratic Labor Party
	0 / 16	3 / 761	0 / 228	22 / 2,888	New Progressive Party
6th (2014)	0 / 17	3 / 789	0 / 226	34 / 2,898	Unified Progressive Party
	0 / 17	1 / 789	0 / 226	6 / 2,898	Labor Party
	0 / 17	0 / 789	0 / 226	11 / 2,898	Justice Party
7th (2018)	0 / 17	0 / 824	0 / 226	0 / 2,927	Labor Party
	0 / 17	11 / 824	0 / 226	26 / 2,927	Justice Party

See also

• Conservatism in South Korea
• Juchesasangpa
• Liberalism in South Korea
• List of political parties in South Korea

References

1. 현연, 조. 2019. 한국 진보 정당 운동사. 후마니타스. pp. 134-134, 141-142
2. 현연, 조. 2019. 한국 진보 정당 운동사. 후마니타스. pp. 198-199, 221-222
3. Yonhap News Agency, December 19, 2014, , “...South Korea's Constitutional Court on Friday ordered the dissolution of a pro-North Korean minor opposition party...”