Liberalism in South Korea

Note: the word liberal in South Korea is often used in its traditional sense. 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 Democratic Party of Korea, and the People Party are the main successors of the liberal parties' tradition.

South Korean liberals are strongly ethnically nationalist embracing Korean nationalism, thus favoring a reconciliatory approach towards North Korea. Most liberals favor a welfare state and reforming the chaebol system. However, many liberals are social conservatives opposing LGBT rights and often hold strong pro-life views.

In South Korea, South Korean's unique liberal and korean nationalist parties are often referred to as "Minjudangkye parties". (Korean: 민주당계 정당; Hanja: 民主黨系政黨; lit. Democratic-line political parties)[1][2][3]

The political party that once were ruling party are in bold.

• Yun Bo-seon (Democratic) (1960–1962)
• Kim Dae-jung (National Congress for New Politics→Millennium Democratic Party) (1998–2003)
• Roh Moo-hyun (Millennium Democratic Party→Uri Party→United New Democratic Party) (2003–2008)
• Moon Jae-in (Democratic) (2017–)

• History of South Korea
• Politics of South Korea
• Conservatism in South Korea
• Progressivism in South Korea
• List of political parties in South Korea
• Minjudang