Liberal Party (South Korea)
자유당 (대한민국)
A South Korean party founded in December 1951 with President Syngman Rhee as its head. As the ruling party throughout the First Republic it underpinned Rhee’s long rule, including through the 1952 constitutional amendment. It collapsed after the April Revolution of 1960, was dissolved after the military coup of 16 May 1961, was re-founded by some of its members in 1963, and was absorbed into the New Democratic Party in 1970.
In depth
According to the Korean source, ahead of the 1952 presidential election Syngman Rhee announced on 15 August 1951 his intention to organise a party and entrusted its creation to Lee Beom-seok, then ambassador to China. Lee built on the organisation of the Korean National Youth Association and brought in five social organisations, including the National Association for the Rapid Realisation of Korean Independence, the Korean Youth Corps, the Korean Federation of Labour, the Peasant Federation and the Korean Women’s Association. On 17 December 1951 an “extra-parliamentary Liberal Party” centred on Lee Beom-seok was launched, and on 23 December a “parliamentary Liberal Party” of younger legislators, so the party was split from the start; Rhee was installed as its president.
The party was condemned for opening the way to Rhee’s dictatorship through the 1952 “excerpt” constitutional amendment. Rhee backed the independent Ham Tae-young instead of Lee Beom-seok as vice-presidential candidate, and later, to check Lee’s youth-corps faction, demoted Lee from deputy leader to ordinary member and raised Yi Ki-poong to second place in the party. Chang Myon, a leader of the parliamentary Liberals, left the party and joined the Society for Upholding the Constitution in 1954. The English source characterises it as a far-right anti-communist party that promoted Ilminism, viewed Western-style liberalism negatively and put forward “anti-communist and anti-Japanese” values.
After the rigged election of 15 March 1960 and the April Revolution, Rhee resigned as party president on 24 April. An attempt to rename the party at an extraordinary convention in June failed, and the party survived in opposition under the Second Republic. It was dissolved after the military coup of 16 May 1961; when political activity was allowed again in 1963, some of its members re-founded it with Chang Taek-sang as chief supreme councillor, but it represented only part of the old Liberal forces. The re-founded party won no seats in the sixth and seventh National Assembly elections and was absorbed into the New Democratic Party in January 1970.