Liberal Party (South Korea)

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{{Infobox political party

| name = Liberal Party{{Small|{{efn|name=translate}}}}

| native_name = 자유당
自由黨

| logo = 자유당 로고.svg

| logo_size = 250px

| colorcode = {{party color|Liberal Party (South Korea)}}

| leader = {{ill|Lee Jae-hak|ko|이재학 (1904년)}}

| founder = Syngman Rhee

| slogan =

| founded = {{ublist

| 17 December 1951{{efn|name=a|First iteration.}}

| 7 September 1963{{efn|name=b|Second iteration.}}

}}

| dissolved = {{ublist

| 16 May 1961{{efn|name=a}}

| 24 January 1970{{efn|name=b}}

}}

| predecessor = {{ublist

| Korean National Youth Association (de facto)

| National Association{{efn|1960}}

| Korean Federation of Labor

| Peasant Federation

| Korean Council of Wives

}}

| merged = New Democratic

| headquarters = Seoul, South Korea

| newspaper =

| student_wing =

| youth_wing =

| ideology = {{ublist|class = nowrap

| Ilminism (until 1952)

| Conservatism (South Korean){{refn|{{cite book|editor=한국정치연구회 |script-title=ko:키워드 로 읽는 한국 현대사 - 1권 |date=2007 |page=253 |publisher=이매진}}}}

| {{ill|Christian Entry Theory|ko|기독교입국론}}

| Korean nationalism{{lang|ko|《현대 한국정치 이론: 역사 현실 1945 ~ 2011》 }}240p ~ 265p

| Fascism (until 1952) (disputed){{cite news|url=http://www.agoranews.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=5368 |script-title=ko:파시즘의 재현(2): 자유당의 지배이데올로기 |trans-title=Reproducing fascism(2): Liberal Party's ruling ideology. |language=ko |work=Suncheon Square Shinmun|date=18 December 2015 |access-date=26 December 2021}}

}}

| position = Far-right{{refn|{{cite book|editor=강준만 |script-title=ko:한국 현대사 산책 1950년대편 2 : 6·25 전쟁에서 4·19 전야까지 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fH3hBAAAQBAJ&q=%EC%9D%B4%EC%8A%B9%EB%A7%8C+%EC%9E%90%EC%9C%A0%EB%8B%B9+%EA%B7%B9%EC%9A%B0&pg=PT180 |date=2004 |publisher=인물과사상사|isbn=9788988410943 }}{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWvuDwAAQBAJ&q=%EC%9D%B4%EC%8A%B9%EB%A7%8C+%EC%9E%90%EC%9C%A0%EB%8B%B9+%EA%B7%B9%EC%9A%B0&pg=PT484 |script-title=ko:사진과 그림으로 보는 한국 현대사 (개정) |author1 = 서중석 |publisher= 웅진지 (Woongjin Books)|year = 2020|isbn = 9788901243733 }}{{cite book|editor=Hwasook Nam |title=Building Ships, Building a Nation: Korea's Democratic Unionism Under Park Chung Hee (Korean Studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies) |quote=... Political parties of the time, including Syngman Rhee's extreme right-wing Liberal Party (the Chayudang, which was established in 1951), seem to have felt obliged to include the goal of building a democratic and equitable ... |date=2009 |page=39 |publisher=University of Washington Press}}}}

| colours = {{ublist

| {{colour box|{{party color|Liberal Party (South Korea, 1963)}}}} Dark green{{efn|name=b}}

| {{colour box|{{party color|Liberal Party (South Korea)}}}} Dark blue{{efn|name=a}}

}}

| country = South Korea

}}

The Liberal Party ({{korean|hangul=자유당|hanja=自由黨|rr=Jayudang}}){{efn|name=translate|The name is sometimes translated as Liberty Party,{{Citation |author=Rev. Dr. Joshua Young-gi Hong |title=Evangelicals and the Democratization of South Korea Since 1987 |date=2009-03-05 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/36090/chapter/313387706 |work=Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Asia |pages=185–234 |editor-last=Lumsdaine |editor-first=David Halloran |access-date=2023-08-15 |edition=1 |publisher=Oxford University PressNew York |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195308242.003.0006 |isbn=978-0-19-530824-2}}Roucek, Joseph S. "Sociological Elements of a Theory of Terror and Violence." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 21, no. 2 (1962): 165–72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3484432.{{Cite journal |last=Yi |first=Kyung Min |date=May 2022 |title=The Fragility of Liberal Democracy: A Schmittian Response to the Constitutional Crisis in South Korea (1948–79) |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-asian-studies/article/81/2/305/320550 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=305–321 |doi=10.1017/S002191182100231X |issn=0021-9118}} or Freedom Party.{{Cite web |author=An Seonjae| title=Hyodang |url=http://anthony.sogang.ac.kr/Hyodang.htm |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=Sogang University}} In South Korea, the terms "liberal", "liberty", and "freedom" all tend to be translated as Jayu ({{korean|hangul=자유|hanja=自由}}).}} was a far-right corporatistMoon, Chung-in, and Sang-young Rhyu. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/42704200 "'Overdeveloped' State and the Political Economy of Development in the 1950s: A Reinterpretation"]. Asian Perspective, vol. 23, no. 1, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1999, pp. 179–203. and anti-communist political party in South Korea established in 1951 by Syngman Rhee.

History

File:자유당 로고 (1963년).svg

As the 1952 presidential elections neared, Rhee made public his intention to organize a party during his August 15 Speech in 1951.Joong-Seok Seo, The Korean War and Rise in Power of the Rhee Syngman Regime, History Review《역사비평》, 9 (Summer 1990) p.141 Rhee called Yi Bum-seok, then the ambassador in China, and charged him with creating the Liberal Party. Yi used the strong organizational base of "Korean National Youth Association" ({{Korean|hangul=조선민족청년단|labels=no}}) as a starting point and incorporated the major five organizations: "National Association for the Rapid Realisation of Korean Independence" ({{Korean|hangul=대한독립촉성국민회|labels=no}}), "Korean Federation of Labor" ({{Korean|hangul=대한노동조합총연맹|labels=no}}), "Peasant Federation" ({{Korean|hangul=농민조합연맹|labels=no}}), and "Korean Council of Wives" ({{Korean|hangul=대한부인회|labels=no}}) as temporary sub-organizations under the Liberal Party.

Ideology

Although the Liberal Party name is used, it is not the traditional definition as used in the West. For example, the Liberal Party advocated for Ilminism and viewed Western-style liberalism and individualism negatively,Hong Tai-young, eds. (2015). [https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002045608 'Excessive Nation' and 'Indiscoverable Individual': 'One-people principle' and particularity of Korean nationalism]. KCI dissertation. instead suggesting the need for "Korean-style liberal democracy". One of the main values of Ilminism was the Hongik Ingan, based on traditional conservatism, and the {{ill|Students Protection Corps|ko|학도 호국단}}, which is said to be similar to Hitlerjugend. To this day, liberal democracy ({{Korean|hangul=자유민주주의|labels=no}}) in South Korea is still used in a similar sense to "anti-communist system" or "free world against communism" by the conservative camp of South Korea, rather than the same meaning as Western liberal democracy.{{cite news|url=https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/23757460 |script-title=ko:한국 보수가 사랑한 '자유'···그들이 외친 '자유'는 따로 있었다 :자유주의란 무엇인가? |trans-title=Korean conservatives loved "Liberty" but... But there was a separate "Liberty" they shouted. :What is liberalism?|language=ko|work=JoongAng Ilbo|date=19 April 2020 |access-date=19 September 2021}}

As its national values during its reign, the Liberal Party put forward "anti-communist and anti-Japanese" ({{Korean|hangul=반공 반일|hanja=反共反日|labels=no}}) sentiments. At the same time, the Liberal Party showed a very pro-American tendency,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snm6AAAAIAAJ&q=%EB%AF%BC%EC%A3%BC%EA%B3%B5%ED%99%94%EB%8B%B9+%EA%B7%B9%EC%9A%B0 |script-title=ko:이 승만 의 정치 이데올로기|isbn = 9788976968029|author1 = 서중석|year = 2005 |page=213| publisher=역사비평사 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.pressian.com/pages/articles/192627 |title=3.15 부정선거는 이승만을 위한 것이 아니었다? |work=Pressian |date=11 April 2018 |access-date=11 December 2021}}{{Cite book |title = 鄭鑑錄: 우리 민족 의 삶 과 역사 |author1 = 朴錫龍 |year = 2007 |page=319}} so it was closer to right-wing populism than resistance nationalism.{{cite book|editor=진방진 |script-title=ko:분단 한국 의 매카시즘 |date=2004 |page=40 |publisher=형성사|isbn=9788973461325 }}{{cite book|editor=정구복 |script-title=ko:우리 어머님: 한 가족사 에 비낀 현대 한국 의 사회 와 문화 |date=2008 |page=215 |publisher=지식 산업사|isbn=9788942338115 }} The Liberal Party supported a discriminatory policy against hwagyo ({{Korean|hangul=화교|hanja=華僑|labels=no}}) based on Korean ethnic supremacy and anti-PRC sentiment.{{cite news|url=https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/book/867504.html |script-title=ko:한국은 어떻게 화교를 혐오해왔나 '137년의 기록' |trans-title=How Korea has hated hwagyo. "Record of 137 Years". |language=ko|work=The Hankyoreh|date=26 October 2018 |access-date=12 December 2021}}

Election results

=President=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Election

! Candidate

! Votes

! %

! Result

1952

| rowspan="3" | Syngman Rhee

| 5,238,769

| 74.62

| {{Yes|Elected}}

1956

| 5,046,437

| 69.99

| {{Yes|Elected}}

March 1960

| 9,633,376

| 100

| {{Yes|Elected}}

=Vice President=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! Election

! Candidate

! Votes

! %

! Result

1952

| Lee Beom-seok

| 1,815,692

| 25.45

| {{No|Not elected}}

1956

| rowspan="2" | Lee Ki-poong

| 3,805,502

| 44.03

| {{No|Not elected}}

March 1960

| 8,337,059

| 79.19

| {{Yes|Elected}}

=Legislature=

==House of Representatives==

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! rowspan="2" \| Election ! rowspan="2" \| Leader ! rowspan="2" \| Votes ! rowspan="2" \| % ! colspan="4" \| Seats ! rowspan="2" \| Position ! rowspan="2" \| Status
Constituency ! Party list ! Total ! +/–
1954 \| rowspan="2" \| Syngman Rhee \| 2,756,081 \| 36.79 \| colspan="2" rowspan="3" bgcolor="lightgrey" \| \| {{Composition bar\|114\|203\|hex={{party color\|Liberal Party (South Korea)}}}} \| new \| rowspan="2" \| 1st \| {{Yes2\|Government}}
1958 \| 3,607,092 \| 42.07 \| {{Composition bar\|127\|233\|hex={{party color\|Liberal Party (South Korea)}}}} \| {{increase}} 13 \| {{Yes2\|Government}}
1960 \| Cho Gyeong-gyu \| 249,960 \| 2.75 \| {{Composition bar\|2\|233\|hex={{party color\|Liberal Party (South Korea)}}}} \| {{decrease}} 125 \| 3rd \| {{No2\|Opposition}}
1963 \| Chang Taek-sang \| 271,820 \| 2.92 \| {{Composition bar\|0\|134}} \| {{Composition bar\|0\|44}} \| {{Composition bar\|0\|175}} \| {{decrease}} 2 \| 7th \| {{No\|Extra-parliamentary}}
1967 \| Lee Jae-hak \| 393,448 \| 3.62 \| {{Composition bar\|0\|134}} \| {{Composition bar\|0\|44}} \| {{Composition bar\|0\|175}} \| {{steady}} \| 3rd \| {{No\|Extra-parliamentary}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" | Election

! rowspan="2" | Leader

! rowspan="2" | Votes

! rowspan="2" | %

! colspan="4" | Seats

! rowspan="2" | Position

! rowspan="2" | Status

Constituency

! Party list

! Total

! +/–