Progressive Party (South Korea, 2017)
The Progressive Party (), known as the Minjung Party () until June 2020, is a left-wing to far-left nationalist political party in South Korea. The party was formed by the merger of the New People's Party and People's United Party on 15 October 2017. History. The party initially had two members in the National Assembly, both from Ulsan, but was reduced to one on 22 December, when the supreme court convicted Yoon Jong-oe for breaking the campaign law. In July 2018, members of the Minjung Party met with members of the North  Korean Social Democratic Party in China. The meeting was not authorized by the Ministry of Unification which could have punished the party for violations of South Korea's National Security Act. Jung Tae-heung, the co-chair of the Minjung Party, stated that he was warned the party may be fined for the meeting. In August 2019, the party held events related to nationwide protests against Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and boycott against Japanese products. In January 2020, the Minjung Party surveyed at 1.5% approval rating ahead of parliamentary elections. The party lost its remaining seat in the 2020  legislative election. In June 2020, the party renamed itself from the Minjung Party to the Progressive Party. Political position. Although the party has never officially put forward socialism or anti-capitalism, it is classified as "far-left" () in the context of South Korean politics because it presents strong anti-American, anti-Japanese, anti-imperialist, pro-North Korean tendencies and radical economic policies. The Progressive Party has "progressivism" as its main ideology rather than "socialism". The Progressive Party strongly supports direct democracy so that 'Minjung' can actively participate in politics, and is also evaluated as "radical" or "radical-left". Economic policy . The party supports the return of wealth and economic progressive positions such as imposing a 90% tax rate on more than 3 billion won (About 2,500,000 dollars). In addition, the party sees "Chaebol" very negatively and sets "decomposing the monopoly economy of transnational capital and Chaebols" () as its official party theory. Foreign policy. The Progressive Party is an anti-imperialist party. The party generally shows a strong left-wing nationalism tendency and is much more conciliatory to North Korea than mainstream left-liberals in South Korea, and the party argues that the remnants of colony of Japanese Imperialism times should  be liquidated and unequal South Korea-U.S. relations should be dismantled to establish national sovereignty. Anti-Zionist activism regarding Palestine. The party (when it was Minjung Party) protested in front of the Israeli Embassy in opposition to Zionist activities of Israel regarding Palestine. Social policy. Major politicians of the Progressive Party oppose anti-communism and militarism and support pacifism and a volunteer military system. The party also supports women's rights, LGBT rights and labor-oriented politics. Kim Jae-yeon said the reason for running for the 2022 Korean presidential election was "to become a feminist president". The rights of  immigrants and foreign workers. The Progressive Party is a Korean nationalist party, but it shows a pro-immigration tendency because it aims for a 'resistance nationalism' that differentiates it from 'right-wing nationalism'. In addition, the Progressive Party opposes neoliberalism, saying neoliberalism promotes discrimination against immigrants. The Progressive Party, along with human rights groups, accused the Moon Jae-in government's COVID-19 quarantine policy in March 2021 of being discriminatory against foreign workers. Controversy over the "far-left" description. The Progressive Party is usually classified as "far-left" in South Korean media. However, the Progressive Party does not officially advocate  general far-left ideologies such as anti-capitalism, left-wing terrorism and socialism (especially communism and anarchism) in the context of international politics. What the Progressive Party is classified as "far-left" in South Korea is surrounded by great powers such as the United States, Japan, Russia and China, and is close to the specificity of Korean politics divided into two countries (South Korea and North Korea). The Progressive Party supports the restoration of South Korea's sovereignty and full "independence" in the international community. (The term "independence" here means strong support for hostile foreign policies against Japan, active reunification  policy with North Korea, opposition to free trade with neighboring powers, protectionism, and establishment of completely equal diplomatic relations between countries.) Democratic socialists in South Korea, including Labor Party's, criticize Justice Party and Progressive Party's as mere "liberal", not "progressive". However, due to the difference in diplomatic views between the two parties, the Labor Party is considered more moderate than the Progressive Party in the context of South Korean politics. Some equate the Progressive Party's line with the Justice Party and the Labor Party's centre-left social democracy. For this reason, on Namuwiki, the most popular  wiki in South Korea, an editorial battle took place over the political position of the Minjung Party and the Progressive Party, and eventually a "Talk" forum was held. The conflict stemmed from a dispute between editors over whether or not the party could be accurately described as "far left". However, Namuwiki's administrator () concluded that it was right to define the political position of Minjung Party and the Progressive Party as "far-left". Controversy. The merger of the New People's Party and People's United Party has been controversial, due to their status as parties that were largely a  continuation of the Unified Progressive Party, which was dissolved and banned in 2014 due to purported pro-North Korean and "anti-constitutional" activity by a Constitutional Court ruling. Conservative critics of the party argued that the Minjung Party is merely an attempt to reestablish the Unified Progressive Party.