Saenuri Party - History

History

The party was founded in 1997 as a merger of various prior political parties. Its earliest ancestor was the Democratic Republican Party under the rule of Park Chung-hee in 1963. Upon Park's death and at the beginning of the rule of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980, it was reconstituted and renamed as the Democratic Justice Party. In 1988 party member Roh Tae-woo introduced a wide range of political reforms including direct Presidential elections and a new constitution. The party was renamed in 1993, during the presidency of Kim Young-sam, with the merger of other parties to form the Democratic Liberal Party (Minju Jayudang). It was renamed as the New Korea Party (Sinhangukdang) in 1995, and it finally became the Grand National Party in November 1997 following its merger with the smaller Democratic Party, and various conservative parties. Three months later, with the election of Kim Dae-jung of the leftwing Centrist Reformists Democratic Party, as president, the party's governing role came to an end, beginning its first ever period in opposition which would last ten years. In October 2012 the Advancement Unification Party merged in Saenuri Party.

Following the 2000 parliamentary elections it was the single largest political party, with 54% of the vote and 147 seats out of 271. The party was defeated in the parliamentary election in 2004 following the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun, gaining only 121 seats out of 299. The defeat reflected public disapproval of the impeachment which was instigated by the party. It was the first time in its history that the party had not won the most seats. It gained back five seats in by-elections, bringing it to 127 seats as of October 28, 2005.