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Turnout | 75.84% (12.81pp) | ||||||||||||||||
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Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 19 December 2012. They were the sixth presidential elections since democratization and the establishment of the Sixth Republic, and were held under a first-past-the-post system, in which there was a single round of voting and the candidate receiving the highest number of votes was elected. Under the South Korean constitution, a president is restricted to a single five-year term in office. The term of the then incumbent president Lee Myung-bak ended on 24 February 2013. According to the Korea Times , 30.7 million people voted with turnout at 75.8%. Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri party was elected the first female South Korean president with 51.6% of the vote opposed to 48.0% for her opponent Moon Jae-in. [1] Park's share of the vote was the highest won by any candidate since the beginning of free and fair direct elections in 1987 and the first such election in which any candidate won a majority. [2] Moreover, as of the 2022 election, this is the latest South Korean presidential election in which the winning candidate won an absolute majority of the vote.
In 2017, following Park's impeachment and removal from office, Moon would go on to succeed her as president following a successful bid for the presidency in the 2017 presidential election.
Lee Myung-bak was elected President of South Korea in 2007 as the nominee of the conservative Grand National Party after a closely contested primary in which he narrowly defeated Park Geun-hye, and assumed office in February 2008. [3] His victory brought to a close ten years of liberal administration under Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. The Lee Myung-bak government pursued the reduction of government bureaucracy and a laissez-faire economic policy, [4] and came under criticism from the left for political scandals and controversial policies such as the Jeju-do Naval Base and its support of the South Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement, although both were initiated under the previous administration. [5] [6] Despite the fact that he was elected in a landslide victory and received initial approval ratings of 70%, [7] Lee's ratings had declined to below 30% by 2012. [8]
At the end of 2011, Park Geun-hye assumed control of the Grand National Party, which was subsequently renamed the Saenuri or New Frontier Party in February 2012. [9] She distanced herself from Lee and led the party towards the center. [10] [11] In legislative elections in April 2012, Park guided the party to an upset victory, returning its majority in the National Assembly. [12] This contributed to an increase in her poll ratings and consolidated her position as frontrunner for the Saenuri nomination. [13]
Opposition to Saenuri was divided primarily between the Democratic United Party and independent supporters of Ahn Cheol-soo, who emerged as a leading potential candidate despite his ostensible silence on the race. [14] In the DUP, focus initially lay on Sohn Hak-kyu as a potential nominee, but by late 2011 Moon Jae-in, a confidant of former president Roh, had overtaken Sohn in polls. [15] Although the DUP invited Ahn to join the party, [16] only 2.3% of respondents to a poll on 21 April thought that Ahn was best suited to be DUP nominee. [17] The DUP itself has been troubled by the split between pro-Roh members such as Moon Jae-in and the "Honam wing" of former president Kim Dae-jung, represented by Chung Dong-young. [18]
Ballot numbers for party candidates were given according to the candidate's party seat distribution in the National Assembly. Ballot numbers for independent candidates were determined through a random lottery by the National Election Commission.
1 | 2 | 3 (Resigned) | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Park Geun-hye | Moon Jae-in | Lee Jung-hee | Park Jong-sun | Kim So-yeon | Kang Ji-won | Kim Soon-ja |
Saenuri | Democratic United | Unified Progressive | Independent | Independent | Independent | Independent |
Democratic Party candidate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Moon Jae-in | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Member of the National Assembly (2012– ) |
The 2012 Democratic United Party presidential primary saw an open primary system implemented for the first time. This new open primary introduced "mobile voting"; it was hailed as a "revolution in voting" because people could participate in voting more conveniently. However, controversies persisted during the primary elections, as questions of the legitimacy and trustworthiness of the voting results were raised. [19] The official result was announced on 16 September 2012, at 15:32 KST, naming Moon Jae-in the presidential candidate from the Democratic United Party. [20] After winning the nomination, Moon stated that he would like to join forces with Ahn Cheol-soo. [21]
Jo, Kim J and Kim Y were disqualified by the party through a cutoff poll, where only top five candidates were allowed to pass to primaries. [22] Park withdrew before the primaries began.
P= Pre-registered electors who voted at Polling booths; M: Pre-registered electors who voted through Mobile devices; D= Party Delegates who voted at the polling booths
Moon Jae-in won the nomination on the first ballot, so no run-off contest was needed. [23]
Dates | Races | Moon | Sohn | Kim | Chung | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
25 Aug. | Jeju | P | 301 | 49.5 | 155 | 25.5 | 134 | 22.0 | 18 | 3.0 | 608 | 100 |
M | 11,701 | 60.5 | 3,693 | 20.5 | 2,739 | 14.2 | 942 | 4.9 | 19,35 | 100 | ||
D | 21 | 14.1 | 52 | 34.9 | 71 | 47.7 | 5 | 3.4 | 149 | 100 | ||
26 Aug. | Ulsan | P | 176 | 58.5 | 42 | 14.0 | 50 | 16.6 | 33 | 11.0 | 301 | 100 |
M | 4,719 | 51.9 | 1,058 | 11.6 | 2,974 | 32.7 | 347 | 3.8 | 9,098 | 100 | ||
D | 56 | 51.4 | 17 | 15.6 | 29 | 26.6 | 7 | 6.4 | 109 | 100 | ||
28 Aug. | Gangwon | P | 192 | 50.0 | 121 | 31.5 | 52 | 13.5 | 19 | 4.9 | 384 | 100 |
M | 2,598 | 46.9 | 2,075 | 37.4 | 574 | 10.4 | 298 | 5.4 | 5,545 | 100 | ||
D | 47 | 18.2 | 132 | 51.2 | 52 | 20.2 | 27 | 10.5 | 258 | 100 | ||
30 Aug. | N. Chungcheong | P | 209 | 39.5 | 232 | 43.9 | 80 | 15.1 | 8 | 1.5 | 529 | 100 |
M | 7,796 | 46.4 | 6,755 | 40.2 | 1,780 | 10.6 | 455 | 2.7 | 16,786 | 100 | ||
D | 127 | 39.4 | 121 | 37.6 | 71 | 22.0 | 3 | 0.9 | 322 | 100 | ||
1 Sep. | N. Jeolla | P | 782 | 17.1 | 1,259 | 27.5 | 684 | 14.9 | 1,855 | 40.5 | 4,580 | 100 |
M | 15,489 | 40.3 | 8,757 | 22.8 | 4,707 | 12.3 | 9,443 | 24.6 | 38,396 | 100 | ||
D | 79 | 13.7 | 177 | 30.7 | 63 | 10.9 | 258 | 44.7 | 577 | 100 | ||
2 Sep. | Incheon | P | 191 | 42.9 | 153 | 34.4 | 73 | 16.4 | 28 | 6.3 | 445 | 100 |
M | 5,607 | 51.2 | 2,841 | 25.9 | 1,823 | 16.6 | 687 | 6.3 | 10,958 | 100 | ||
D | 130 | 30.2 | 149 | 34.6 | 80 | 18.6 | 72 | 16.7 | 431 | 100 | ||
4 Sep. | S. Gyeongsang | P | 354 | 25.1 | 136 | 9.6 | 908 | 64.3 | 14 | 1.0 | 1,412 | 100 |
M | 11,216 | 46.5 | 2,256 | 9.4 | 10,265 | 42.6 | 374 | 1.6 | 24,111 | 100 | ||
D | 113 | 29.4 | 52 | 13.5 | 208 | 54.0 | 12 | 3.1 | 385 | 100 | ||
6 Sep. | Gwangju | P | 1,385 | 27.6 | 2,182 | 43.4 | 1,257 | 25.0 | 200 | 4.0 | 5,024 | 100 |
M | 32,345 | 50.5 | 20,053 | 31.3 | 9,546 | 14.9 | 2,105 | 3.3 | 64,049 | 100 | ||
D | 179 | 19.9 | 375 | 41.7 | 215 | 23.9 | 130 | 14.5 | 899 | 100 | ||
8 Sep. | Busan | P | 714 | 64.1 | 90 | 8.1 | 290 | 26.0 | 20 | 1.8 | 1,114 | 100 |
M | 17,162 | 66.4 | 2,577 | 10.0 | 5,542 | 21.4 | 562 | 2.2 | 25,843 | 100 | ||
D | 259 | 62.6 | 59 | 14.3 | 75 | 18.1 | 21 | 5.1 | 414 | 100 | ||
9 Sep. | Daejeon | P | 468 | 57.1 | 215 | 26.3 | 95 | 11.6 | 41 | 5.0 | 819 | 100 |
M | 14,373 | 63.3 | 4,026 | 17.7 | 2,481 | 10.9 | 1,838 | 8.1 | 22,718 | 100 | ||
D | 263 | 48.1 | 139 | 25.4 | 64 | 11.7 | 81 | 14.8 | 547 | 100 | ||
12 Sep. | Daegu | P | 365 | 57.4 | 90 | 14.2 | 169 | 26.6 | 12 | 1.9 | 636 | 100 |
M | 9,745 | 57.5 | 3,028 | 17.9 | 3,318 | 19.6 | 846 | 5.0 | 16,937 | 100 | ||
D | 165 | 34.7 | 96 | 20.2 | 134 | 28.2 | 80 | 16.8 | 475 | 100 | ||
15 Sep. | Gyeonggi | P | 1,219 | 55.7 | 677 | 30.9 | 187 | 8.5 | 107 | 4.9 | 2,190 | 100 |
M | 47,844 | 63.5 | 17,270 | 22.9 | 6,661 | 8.8 | 3,527 | 4.7 | 75,302 | 100 | ||
D | 522 | 37.0 | 530 | 37.5 | 130 | 9.2 | 230 | 16.3 | 1,412 | 100 | ||
16 Sep. | Seoul | P | 1,434 | 56.3 | 688 | 27.0 | 229 | 9.0 | 195 | 7.7 | 2,546 | 100 |
M | 156,122 | 60.8 | 53,197 | 20.7 | 29,845 | 11.6 | 17,756 | 6.9 | 256,920 | 100 | ||
D | 715 | 42.5 | 41 | 24.4 | 187 | 11.1 | 371 | 22.0 | 1,683 | 100 | ||
Total | 347,183 | 56.5 | 136,205 | 22.2 | 87,842 | 14.3 | 43027 | 7.0 | 614,257 | 100 |
Saenuri Party candidate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Park Geun-hye | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leader of the Saenuri Party (2011–2012) |
The first member of the Saenuri Party to officially announce their candidacy was Kim Moon-soo on 22 April. Kim, a former labor activist, stated in his announcement that he would focus on combating regional and socioeconomic divides, emphasized his commitment to a policy of multiculturalism, and argued for a revision in Saenuri's primary system. He stated further that Park Geun-hye's leadership of the party represented only an "ambiguously prevailing trend", and could not be relied upon to reach victory in the elections. [14] Although Kim said that he was "convinced" he could "attract more support than [Park]", he was not widely expected to garner a high level of support. His early announcement was regarded as an attempt to preemptively form an anti-Park faction in the party. [24]
Chung Mong-joon, a billionaire and longstanding member of the National Assembly, followed on 29 April. In his announcement, Chung emphasized the need to confront regionalism and factional politics, and stated that he would "write a new history of the Republic of Korea by facilitating [his] experience of managing a business, engaging in diplomacy and creating unity in the nation". He stressed that his task was to "bring together the divided hearts of the people" and that he was concerned that the "country could collapse in its current situation". [25] Like Kim Moon-soo, Chung is expected to be at a disadvantage to Park. [25] Chung previously declared his candidacy in the 2002 presidential elections but later dropped out to endorse Roh Moo-hyun. [26]
The former mayor of Incheon, Ahn Sang-soo, declared his candidacy on 6 May, emphasizing his economic credentials and stating that he would relieve the burden of debt. [27] Former presidential Chief of Staff Yim Tae-hee followed on 8 May, issuing a call for Park Geun-hye to act as a "kingmaker" that was interpreted as a request for her to step aside. [28] Yim, a moderate, proposed to join hands with independent Ahn Cheol-soo and DUP frontrunner Moon Jae-in in a bid to "demolish outdated politics". [29] On 10 May, five-term lawmaker and former Minister for Government Legislation and Special Affairs Lee Jae-oh announced his bid, promising to reform the constitution and cut his term as president to three years. [30]
The campaign for the Saenuri primaries has been characterized by a dispute between Park Geun-hye, as frontrunner and party leader, and her opponents in the party. She was cited in 2009 as the most influential politician in South Korea, [31] and has outranked other candidates in many polls throughout 2012, [32] though as of early May 2012 she is yet to officially declare her candidacy. [27] Park's opponents have called for Saenuri to adopt an open primary system rather than the present system based on an electoral college and opinion poll results. [33] At the end of April the Democratic United Party suggested a joint discussion on the issue of fully open primaries. [34] Park has been criticized for her taciturn and authoritarian style in leading the party, and Kim Moon-soo described her as overly "secretive". [33] Chung Mong-joon stated that under Park's leadership, "democracy in the party [had] gone missing". [35] Park strengthened her position when her ally Lee Hahn-koo was elected Saenuri's floor leader on 9 May. [36]
During a primary debate on 7 August 2012, primary candidate Kim Tae-ho asked if Park Geun-hye would agree that the May 16 coup by her father (Park Chung Hee) was both a coup and a "necessary decision", regarding Park's previous stance that the overthrow was a "revolution to save the country". Park confirmed her stance by answering, "I don't think it's the place of politicians to be fighting over whether [the 16 May incident] were a 'coup d'etat' or a 'revolution'". She furthermore commented that "no one can refute that the events themselves did happen, whether you call them a 'coup' or a 'revolution.'" and that "we need to leave that issue" for history to decide. [37] In addition, during another debate on 8 August 2012, the moderator asked Park the minimum hourly rate for a part-time worker as of 2012. Park replied "I think it's over 5,000 won, isn't it?," when the legal minimum wage was 4,580 won. In response, The South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions responded with a statement in which it said, "It is terribly discouraging when a person who wants to become president does not even know the country's minimum wage, which is a minimal right for survival and the first step toward a welfare state". [38]
Chung and Lee, in protest of the controversial primary rule negotiations, withdrew their bids for nomination before the convention.
The official result was announced at Saenuri National Convention, which took place on 20 August 2012 at 05:40 KST, nominating Park Geun-hye as the presidential candidate for the Saenuri Party. [39]
Candidate | Place | Votes | Percentage |
Park Geun-hye | Nominated | 86,589 | 83.97% |
Kim Moon-soo | 2nd | 8,955 | 8.68% |
Kim Tae-ho | 3rd | 3,298 | 3.20% |
Yim Tae-hee | 4th | 2,676 | 2.69% |
Ahn Sang-soo | 5th | 1,600 | 1.55% |
103,118 | 100.0% |
Lee Jung-hee (Unified Progressive Party)
Former leader of UPP and former Member of National Assembly [40]
Kim So-yeon (Independent) [41]
Elected to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
Kim Soon-ja (Independent) [42]
A Cleaning worker, and New Progressive Party candidate in 2012 South Korean legislative election
Kang Ji-won (Independent) [43]
Chairman of Korea Manifesto Center
Park Jong-sun (Independent)
A former entrepreneur
Lee Gun-gae [46]
A former National Assembly Member
Poll source | Date | Sample size | Margin | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Park (%) Saenuri | Moon (%) DUP | ||||
JoongAng Ilbo [47] | 19–21 July 2012 | 2,000 | 56.6 | 35.0 | 21.6 |
OhMyNews/Research View [48] | 16–17 July 2012 | 1,000 | 50.8 | 41.0 | 9.8 |
Realmeter [49] | 29 May – 1 June 2012 | 3,000 | 52.5 | 38.6 | 13.9 |
Hankyoreh /Korea Society Opinion Institute [50] | 26–27 May 2012 | 61.0 | 33.5 | 27.5 | |
Realmeter [51] | 21–25 May 2012 | 3,750 | 52.6 | 37.9 | 14.7 |
JoongAng Ilbo [52] | 15 May 2012 | 910 | 57.6 | 33.3 | 24.3 |
Realmeter [53] | 14–18 May 2012 | 3,750 | 52.0 | 37.5 | 14.5 |
Realmeter [54] | 7–11 May 2012 | 3,750 | 51.9 | 38.2 | 13.7 |
Realmeter [55] | 7–8 May 2012 | 1,500 | 55.7 | 36.3 | 19.4 |
Realmeter [56] | 30 April – 4 May 2012 | 3,000 | 52.4 | 38.0 | 14.4 |
Realmeter [57] | 23–27 April 2012 | 3,750 | 50.9 | 40.3 | 10.6 |
Realmeter [58] | 6–10 February 2012 | 3,750 | 44.3 | 43.0 | 1.3 |
Realmeter [59] | 30 January – 3 February 2012 | 3,750 | 44.4 | 44.9 | 0.5 |
Donga Ilbo [59] | 24 January 2012 | 46.7 | 38.4 | 8.3 |
KBS, MBC, and SBS Terrestrial Broadcasting Exit Survey
Candidate | Estimated percentage |
---|---|
Park Geun-hye | 50.1% |
Moon Jae-in | 48.9% |
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Park Geun-hye | Saenuri Party | 15,773,128 | 51.56 | |
Moon Jae-in | Democratic United Party | 14,692,632 | 48.02 | |
Kang Ji-won | Independent | 53,303 | 0.17 | |
Kim Soon-ja | Independent | 46,017 | 0.15 | |
Kim So-yeon | Independent | 16,687 | 0.05 | |
Park Jong-sun | Independent | 12,854 | 0.04 | |
Total | 30,594,621 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 30,594,621 | 99.59 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 126,838 | 0.41 | ||
Total votes | 30,721,459 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 40,507,842 | 75.84 | ||
Source: National Election Commission |
Breakdown of votes by region for candidates with at least 1% of the total votes.
Region | Park Geun-hye | Moon Jae-in | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |
Seoul | 3,024,572 | 48.2 | 3,227,639 | 51.4 |
Busan | 1,324,159 | 59.8 | 882,511 | 39.9 |
Daegu | 1,267,789 | 80.1 | 309,034 | 19.5 |
Incheon | 852,600 | 51.6 | 794,213 | 48.0 |
Gwangju | 69,574 | 7.8 | 823,737 | 92.0 |
Daejeon | 450,576 | 50.0 | 448,310 | 49.7 |
Ulsan | 413,977 | 59.8 | 275,451 | 39.8 |
Sejong | 33,587 | 51.9 | 30,787 | 47.6 |
Gyeonggi | 3,528,915 | 50.4 | 3,442,084 | 49.2 |
Gangwon | 562,876 | 62.0 | 340,870 | 37.5 |
North Chungcheong | 518,442 | 56.2 | 398,907 | 43.3 |
South Chungcheong | 658,928 | 56.7 | 497,630 | 43.3 |
North Jeolla | 150,315 | 13.2 | 980,322 | 86.3 |
South Jeolla | 116,296 | 10.0 | 1,038,347 | 89.3 |
North Gyeongsang | 1,375,164 | 80.8 | 316,659 | 18.6 |
South Gyeongsang | 1,259,174 | 63.1 | 724,896 | 36.3 |
Jeju | 166,184 | 50.5 | 161,235 | 49.0 |
Total | 15,773,128 | 51.6 | 14,692,632 | 48.0 |
Source: National Election Commission |
Breakdown of votes by region for candidates with less than 1% of the total votes.
Region | Kang Ji-won | Kim Soon-ja | Kim So-yeon | Park Jong-sun |
---|---|---|---|---|
Seoul | 11,829 | 5,307 | 3,793 | 3,559 |
Busan | 2,878 | 2,389 | 913 | 555 |
Daegu | 2,043 | 1,984 | 624 | 366 |
Incheon | 2,730 | 1,910 | 1,005 | 508 |
Gwangju | 1,113 | 561 | 333 | 268 |
Daejeon | 1,291 | 969 | 461 | 271 |
Ulsan | 898 | 1,463 | 434 | 210 |
Sejong | 99 | 155 | 38 | 31 |
Gyeonggi | 12,577 | 7,476 | 3,674 | 1,997 |
Gangwon | 1,514 | 2,114 | 524 | 356 |
North Chungcheong | 1,511 | 2,241 | 542 | 410 |
South Chungcheong | 1,976 | 3,198 | 688 | 516 |
North Jeolla | 3,066 | 1,690 | 702 | 480 |
South Jeolla | 4,338 | 2,487 | 759 | 732 |
North Gyeongsang | 2,119 | 5,886 | 873 | 810 |
South Gyeongsang | 2,654 | 5,326 | 1,084 | 1,637 |
Jeju | 667 | 861 | 240 | 148 |
Total | 53,303 | 46,017 | 16,687 | 12,854 |
Source: National Election Commission |
On 11 December 2012, the Democratic United Party claimed that agents of the Psychological Operations group in the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) were influencing public opinion under orders by the NIS, by posting comments on the Internet. They followed these claims by identifying one such agent. In a police raid, that agent did not emerge from the rented office and claimed that she was not involved in such actions. Right after the last TV debate between candidates Park Geun-Hye and Moon Jae-in, police announced that no evidence was found. After Park Geun-Hye was sworn into office, evidence emerged that the agent in question and many others were involved in activities manipulating public opinion in the presidential election. On 27 May 2013 the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Seoul Suseo Police Station was found to have delayed delivering evidence, and turned in fabricated laptop hard drive analysis reports. [60] [61] The police already had evidence that the agent in question posted political comments, the analysis report was not submitted to the Suseo Police Station and was destroyed. [62] [63]
In 2013, prosecutor Yoon Seok-youl led a special investigation team that looked into the National Intelligence Service (NIS)'s involvement in the scandal. Yoon sought the prosecution of the former head of the NIS, Won Sei-hoon for violating the Public Official Election Act for his role in the case. Yoon accused Park Geun-hye's Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn of influencing his investigation. [64] In February 2015, Won was convicted on charges of instructing NIS officials to manipulate internet comments and sentenced to three years in prison. [65] However the conviction was overturned on appeal, leading to a retrial. In a second trial, Won was sentenced to four years in prison in 2017. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence in April 2018. [66] When Moon Jae-in won the 2017 election, his administration pursued nine additional charges of political interference against Won, resulting in a subsequent 7 year jail sentence in 2020. [67]
In August 2017, the NIS formally acknowledged that it was involved in the election manipulation after an internal inquiry. [68] In December 2020, the National Assembly passed reforms curbing powers of the NIS, explicitly banning the agency and its employees from interfering in domestic politics. [69]
In June 2021, according to a MBC News report, Won Sei-hoon pushed South Korean embassies abroad to delay issuing new passports to Korean nationals, who tend to lean liberal in order to limit their ability to vote for Moon Jae-in. A NIS whistleblower also claimed that he was tortured after objecting to the operation by being placed for several days in a small white room intended to cause sensory disorientation. [70]
The Liberty Korea Party (Korean: 자유한국당) was a conservative political party in South Korea that was described variously as right-wing, right-wing populist, or far-right. Until February 2017, it was known as the Saenuri Party, and before that as the Hannara Party from 1997 to 2012, both of which are still colloquially used to refer to the party. The party formerly held a plurality of seats in the 20th Assembly before its ruling status was transferred to the Democratic Party of Korea on 27 December 2016, following the creation of the splinter Bareun Party by former Saenuri members who distanced themselves from President Park Geun-hye in the 2016 South Korean political scandal.
Park Geun-hye is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017. Park was the first woman to be elected president of South Korea, and also the first woman to be popularly elected as a head of state in East Asia. She is also the first South Korean president to be born after the founding of South Korea. Her father, Park Chung Hee, was president from 1963 to 1979, serving five consecutive terms after he seized power in 1961.
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Moon Jae-in is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs and Chief of Staff to President Roh Moo-hyun, Member of the National Assembly, and Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.
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Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 13 April 2016. All 300 members of the National Assembly were elected, 253 from first-past-the-post constituencies and 47 from proportional party lists. The election was an upset victory for the liberal Democratic Party, which defied opinion polling by winning a plurality of seats in the election and defeating the ruling conservative Saenuri Party by one seat. In votes for party lists, however, Democratic Party came third, behind the Saenuri Party in first place and the new People Party in second.
Kim Chong-in is a South Korean economist and politician. He was the interim chairman of the Minjoo Party of Korea from January to August 2016 and a member-elect of the National Assembly on the party's proportional list since the April 2016 parliamentary election. He was previously a member of the Assembly from 1981 to 1988, 1992 to 1994, and 2004 to 2008, each time elected by party list. He served as Minister of Health and Social Affairs under President Roh Tae-woo from 1989 to 1990. From May 2020 until April 2021, he was the leader of the main opposition People Power Party.
On 9 December 2016, Park Geun-hye, the president of South Korea, was impeached as the culmination of a political scandal involving interventions to the presidency from her aide, Choi Soon-sil. 234 members of the 300-member National Assembly voted to impeach and temporarily suspend Park's presidential powers and duties. This exceeded the required two-thirds threshold in the National Assembly and, although the vote was by secret ballot, the results indicated that more than half of the 128 lawmakers in Park's party Saenuri had supported her impeachment. Thus, Hwang Kyo-ahn, then Prime Minister of South Korea, became acting president while the Constitutional Court of Korea was due to determine whether to accept the impeachment. The court upheld the impeachment in a unanimous 8–0 decision on 10 March 2017, removing Park from office. The regularly scheduled presidential election was advanced to 9 May 2017, and Moon Jae-in, former leader of the Democratic Party, who Park had narrowly defeated in the 2012 presidential election, was elected as Park's permanent successor.
The Bareun Party was a conservative political party in South Korea, announced on 27 December 2016 with the defection of 29 anti-Park Saenuri Party lawmakers. It was known as the Conservative New Party for Reform until 8 January 2017.
The People Power Party, formerly known as the United Future Party, is a conservative and right-wing political party in South Korea. It controls the South Korean presidency and is the second-largest party in the National Assembly. The PPP, along with its historic rival, the Democratic Party, make up the two largest political parties in South Korea.
Presidential elections were held in South Korea on 9 March 2022. Under the South Korean constitution, presidents are restricted to a single five-year term, meaning that incumbent president Moon Jae-in was ineligible to run for a second term. Opposition candidate Yoon Suk Yeol of the People Power Party won the election, defeating candidate Lee Jae-myung of the incumbent Democratic Party.
Jeon Hae-cheol is a South Korean lawyer and politician who served as the Minister of the Interior and Safety from 2020 to 2022. He formerly served as the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs from 2006 to 2007, under the then President Roh Moo-hyun.
The 2021 South Korean by-elections were held in South Korea on 7 April 2021. The National Election Commission announced on 2 March 2021, that the by-elections would be held for 21 public offices or electoral districts, including 2 Metropolitan mayors, 2 Municipal mayors, 8 Metropolitan Council constituencies, and 9 Municipal Council constituencies. Candidate registration ran from 18 to 19 March, and the list of candidates was confirmed on 26 March.
Chung Woo-taik is a South Korean politician who served as the former Governor of North Chungcheong from 2006 to 2010. He is currently the Member of the National Assembly for Sangdang since 2022.
Seongnam Bundang A is a constituency of the National Assembly of South Korea. The constituency consists of portions of Bundang District, Seongnam. As of 2024, 214,158 eligible voters were registered in the constituency. The constituency was created in 2000 from the Seongnam Bundang constituency.
Keum Tae-sup is a South Korean politician and lawyer. He had been a member of the National Assembly from 2016 to 2020. Although he had been a member of the Democratic Party of Korea since entering politics, he was disciplined for opposing the party's opinion on the establishment of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, and defected from the party in 2020. He founded New Choice Party in 2023 and then merged with Lee Jun-seok's New Reform Party in the face of the National Assembly election.
[Park] re-crafted [the party] by creating a new name, image and more centrist platform...