# Democratic Party (South Korea, 2000)

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.

## History

In 2000, the party officially founded, after it merged of National Congress for New Politics and New People Party led by Lee In-je and a number of conservative minded politicians joined it. In the 2000 Parliamentary election the party came second winning 115 seats.
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.
By June 2007, much of the party joined the Uri Party, while the New People faction merged the party with the Central Reform United New Party to form a new Democratic Party.

## Political position

The Democratic Party is a political party led by Kim Dae-jung individual charisma and is generally classified as "liberalism" (Korean: 자유주의) or "conservative liberalism" (Korean: 보수자유주의 or 보수적 자유주의). Later in 2017, South Korea's centre-right conservative politician Ha Tae-keung said of Kim Dae-jung, "He devoted his life to democracy and the market economy in Korea", adding, "He is a big adult in the conservative camp".
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".)
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. On the other hand, he pursued a typical conservative economic agenda and was called a "Neoliberal Revolutionist" (Korean: 신자유주의 혁명가). Kim Dae-jung also was a supporter of the New Labour In the United Kingdom and of the Third Way and an Neo-developmental state.

## Presidential election primary
### Candidates

This is a list of official pre-registered candidates that declared their 2007 presidential bid.
| Name | Occupation | Notes |
| Cho Sun-hyeong(조순형) | Member for Seongbuk-gu-eul | led the impeachment of Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 |
| Kim Min-seok(김민석) | Former Assembly member | Former Seoul mayoral candidate in 2002 local body election(when Lee Myung Bak was elected that position) |
| Lee In-je Archived 7 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine(이인제) | Member for Nonsan, Geumsan and Gyeryung | Presidential candidate of election 1997 |
| Shin Guk-hwan(신국환) | Member for Munkyeong and Yecheon | Former Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy of Roh's Administration |
| Jang Sang(장 상) | Former leader of Democratic party | Former president of Ewha Womans University |
* Kim Yeong-hwan(김영환), former Assembly member and also former Minister of Science and Technology of the Kim Dae-jung Administration has been declared not to run its presidential primary on 31 August 2007

## Election results
### President

| Election | Candidate | Votes | % | Result |
| 2002 | Roh Moo-hyun | 12,014,277 | 48.9 | 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 |
| 2000 | Kim Dae-jung | 6,780,625 | 35.87 | 96 / 227 | new | | | 19 / 46 | new | 115 / 273 | new | 2nd | Government |
| 2004 | Cho Soon-hyung | 1,698,368 | 7.96 | 5 / 243 | 91 | 1,510,178 | 7.09 | 4 / 56 | 15 | 9 / 299 | 106 | 4th | Opposition |

### Local

| Election | Metropolitan mayor/Governor | Provincial legislature | Municipal mayor | Municipal legislature |
| 2002 | 4 / 16 | 143 / 682 | 44 / 227 | |
| 2006 | 2 / 16 | 80 / 733 | 20 / 230 | 276 / 2,888 |