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
Secretary-General	Cha Yoon-seok
Vice Leader	Song Mi-ryang
Chair of the Policy Planning Committee	Jeong Sang-cheon
Founded	2013
Merger of	New Progressive Party; Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party;
Headquarters	Hanheung Building, 29-28, Yeongdeungpo-dong 7-ga, Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul
Newspaper	Letter from the Future
Youth wing	Committee on Youth and Students
Membership (December 2020)	11,045
Ideology	Progressivism (South Korean); Democratic socialism; Until 2021:; Social democracy;
Political position	Left-wing; Until 2021:; Centre-left to left-wing;
Colors	Red
National Assembly	0 / 300
Municipal Councillors	0 / 2,898
Website
	www.laborparty.kr
	Politics of South Korea; Political parties; Elections;

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.^[1]

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".^[2] LP also showed a centre-left social democratic character until it absorbed the Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.)^[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, 2019–2021
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				Party list				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

References

^ '노동당·사회변혁노동자당' 통합정당 2월5일 출범. 18 January 2022.
^ 노동당 강령 [Labor Party platform]. Labor Party. 27 August 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
^ 탁양현 (11 January 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 정의당과 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.]

External links

Official website (in Korean)

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[1] '노동당·사회변혁노동자당' 통합정당 2월5일 출범. 18 January 2022.

[Platform-2] 노동당 강령 [Labor Party platform]. Labor Party. 27 August 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.

[탁양현-3] 탁양현 (11 January 2019). 진보주의 정치철학, 수운 최제우, 안토니오 그람시 (in Korean). e퍼플. p. 33. ISBN 9791163473008 – via Google Books.

[4] 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.

[5] "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 정의당과 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.]

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