Uri Party

The Yeollin Uri Party, generally abbreviated to Uri Party, was the ruling social-liberal political party in South Korea from 2003–2007. It had a liberal political ideology in order to support then President Roh Moo-hyun. Chung Sye Kyun was the last leader of the party and twice served as its chairman. In 2007 the party merged the United New Democratic Party to form the Democratic Party. The current-day descendant of the party is the Democratic Party of Korea, but progressives in the party have become members of the Justice Party. Brief history The party was formed when the conservative-dominated National Assembly voted to impeach then President Roh Moo-hyun, loyalists and pro-Roh faction in the Millennium Democratic Party chose to break ranks from other party members who showed lukewarm support for the administration. Some 42 out of 103 lawmakers of the Millennium Democratic Party joined the new party, and 5 lawmakers from the conservative Grand National Party also joined, seeking to complete political reforms. The Uri Party won a sweeping victory in the 2004 Parliamentary election, winning 152 of 299 seats. It was the first time that a liberal party had won a majority in 41 years.