# Labor Party (South Korea)

The Labor Party (Korean: 노동당) is a democratic socialist political party in South Korea.

## History

After the New Progressive Party and the Socialist Party voted to unite in 2012, the Labor Party was officially formed the following year. It held its interim party congress on 21 July 2013.
On 5 February 2022, it was announced that the unregistered Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party agreed to merge with the Labor Party in order to create a unified socialist vision for the 2022 South Korean presidential election under candidate Lee Baek-yoon.

## Ideologies and political positions

The Labor Party is a political party led by the Minjungminju (PD) faction, a non-nationalist left-wing tendency. The Labor Party officially supports "definitely left-wing politics", "environmentalism" and "democratic socialism". LP also showed a centre-left social democratic character until it absorbed the Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party. Major Labor politicians are critical of "liberal politics" (mainly seen in the Democratic, Justice, and Progressive Parties), and hold that true progressivism is only possible through socialism. LP envisions the realization of "socialist politics" beyond 'left-liberal politics' and 'conservative politics' that have dominated South Korean politics.
A Labor Party major politician, Lee Gap-yong (Korean: 이갑용; Hanja: 李甲用), has critiqued the Progressive Party and Justice Party for not being truly "progressive". According to him, the Progressive Party, classified as far-left in the South Korean political context, has "given up" socialism. (However, unlike the Progressive Party, the Labor Party is not classified as far-left because it has a critical tendency toward North Korea.)

## Leadership

* Hong Sehwa and An Hyo-sang, 2012
* Kim Jong-cheol, 2012 (acting)
* Kim Il-ung, 2012–2013
* Lee Yong-gill, 2013–2015
* Na Gyung-che, 2015
* Choe Seung-hyeon, 2015 (acting)
* Kim Sang-cheol, 2015
* Koo Kyo-hyun, 2015–2016
* Kim Gang-ho, 2016 (acting)
* Lee Gap-yong, 2016–2018
* Na Do-won, 2018–2019 (acting)
* Shin Ji-hae, Yong Hae-in, 2019
* Hyun Lin, 2019 (acting)
* Hyun Lin, 2019–2021
* Na Do-won, 2021–2022
* Na Do-won, Yi Jong-hoe, 2022–present

## Election results
### President

| Election | Candidate | Votes | % | Result |
| 2022 | Lee Baek-yun | 9,176 | 0.03 | Not elected |

### Legislature

| Election | Leader | Constituency | Constituency | Constituency | Constituency | Party list | Party list | Party list | Party list | Seats | Seats | Position | Status |
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | Votes | % | Seats | +/- | No. | +/– | Position | Status |
| 2016 | Koo Kyo-hyun | 46,949 | 0.2 | 0 / 253 | new | 91,705 | 0.39 | 0 / 47 | new | 0 / 300 | new | 11th | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2020 | Hyun-lin | 15,752 | 0.05 | 0 / 253 | 0 | 34,272 | 0.12 | 0 / 47 | 0 | 0 / 300 | 0 | 19th | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2024 | Na Do-won | 7,465 | 0.03 | 0 / 253 | 0 | 25,937 | 0.09 | 0 / 47 | 0 | 0 / 300 | 0 | 19th | Extra-parliamentary |

### Local

| Election | Leader | Metropolitan mayor/Governor | Provincial legislature | Municipal mayor | Municipal legislature |
| 2014 | | 0 / 17 | 1 / 789 | 0 / 226 | 6 / 2,898 |
| 2018 | | 0 / 17 | 0 / 789 | 0 / 226 | 0 / 2,898 |