Labor Party (South Korea)

Labor Party
Hangul	노동당
Hanja	勞動黨
Revised Romanization	Nodongdang
McCune–Reischauer	Nodongdang

Labor Party

노동당
Labor Party 노동당
Leader	Na Do-won
Vice Leader	Song Mi-ryang
Secretary-General	Cha Yoon-seok
Chair of the Policy Planning Committee	Jeong Sang-cheon
Founded	21 July 2013
Merger of	New Progressive Party
Headquarters	Hanheung Building, 29-28, Yeongdeungpo-dong 7-ga, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul
Newspaper	Letter from the Future
Youth wing	Committee on Youth and Student
Membership (2016)	3,886
Ideology	Progressivism; Social democracy; Democratic socialism; Environmentalism
Political position	Centre-left to left-wing
Colors	Red
Seats in the National Assembly	0 / 300
Seats within local government	0 / 2,898
Website
	www.laborparty.kr
	Politics of South Korea; Political parties; Elections;

Headquarter and Seoul bureau building of Labor Party in 2018.

The Labor Party (Korean: 노동당; Hanja: 勞動黨; RR: Nodongdang) 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.

Political position[]

The Labor Party is a political party led by the Minjungminju (PD) faction, a non-nationalist tendency. The Labor Party officially supports "definitely left-wing politics", "environmentalism" and "democratic socialism".^[2] LP also shows a social democracy or centre-left personality.^[3] Major Labor politicians are quite critical of "liberal politics" (mainly seen in Democratic, Justice, Progressive, etc.), and hold that true progressive is only possible through "socialism". LP is envisioning the realization of "socialist politics" beyond 'left-liberal politics' and 'conservative politics' that have dominated South Korean politics.^[4]

Labor Party's major politician, Lee Gap-yong (Korean: 이갑용; Hanja: 李甲用), criticizes that Progressive Party and Justice Party are not true "progressive". Because even 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.)^[5]

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–present

Election results[]

Legislative elections[]

Election	Total seats won	Constituency votes	Share of votes	Outcome of election	Leader
2016	0 / 300	91,705	0.38%	0 seats; Opposition	Koo Kyo-hyun
2020	0 / 300	34,272	0.12%	0 seats; Opposition	Koo Kyo-hyun

Local elections[]

Election	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

References[]

^ 이근선 (14 October 2016). "노동당 대표로 이갑용 전 민주노총위원장 당선". 개미뉴스 (in Korean).
^ "노동당 강령" [Labor Party platform]. Labor Party. 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
^ 탁양현 (January 11, 2019). 진보주의 정치철학, 수운 최제우, 안토니오 그람시 (in Korean). e퍼플. p. 33. ISBN 9791163473008 – via Google Books.
^ "노동당 이향희 "보수·자유주의 정치, 싹 다 갈아엎겠다"" [Labor Party's Lee Hyang-hee said, "Conservative and liberal politics, I'm going to break everything down".]. 참세상. 9 April 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
^ ""준비된 사회주의 후보, 공약만으로 충분한 지지 얻을 수 있다"" [If you are a prepared socialist candidate, you will gain sufficient support with just a pledge.]. 참세상. 11 September 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021. 정의당이나 진보당의 색깔은 우리와 같지 않다. ... 민주노동당에서 파생된 ��의당과 진보당은 사회주의라는 용어를 다 뺐다. 진보를 포기한 거다. [The color of the Justice Party or the Progressive Party is not the same as ours. ... The Justice Party and the Progressive Party derived from the Democratic Labor Party do not use the term socialism. They are no different from giving up true progressivism.]