Uri Party

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Uri Party




Leader	Kim Geun Tae

Founded	2003
Headquarters	Yeongdeungpo-dong 6-Ga 133, Yeongdeungpo-gu Seoul, South Korea 서울 영등포구 영등포동 6가 133

Political ideology	Liberalism, Social democracy
International affiliation

Website	www.uparty.or.kr

Uri Party
Hangul:	열린우리당
Hanja:	열린우리黨
Revised Romanization:	Yeollin Uri-dang
McCune-Reischauer:	Yŏllin Uri-dang

Uri party celebrates

The Yeollin Uri Party (en: "Our Open Party"), generally abbreviated to Uri Party (en: "Our Party"), is the ruling political party in South Korea with liberal political ideology. The party was formed when loyalists to president Roh Moo-hyun 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 Grand National Party also joined. Kim Geun Tae is the current leader of the party and has twice served as its chairman.

The party was formerly known as the New Party for Participatory Citizens but changed its name on October 22, 2003; according to the party, the name reflects the party's push for national unity and a willingness to public participation and reform. Yeollin Uri Party can be abbreviated as Yeoru Party, but that usage is discouraged by the party because that roughly means "inferior fellow" in Korean. Hence, the form Yeoru Party is used only by the opponents of the party in a derogatory way.

The party came to international attention when their members physically blocked the speaker's chair in the National Assembly in a failed attempt to prevent the impeachment vote on President Roh on March 12, 2004. (The vote was subsequently overturned by South Korea's Constitutional Court on May 14, 2004.)

As a result of the 2004 Parliamentary election, the Uri Party gained 152 seats from the total of 299 in the National Assembly, making a slim majority.

On August 19, 2004, the party suffered an embarrassing setback when party chairman Shin Ginam resigned following revelations by a national investigation that his father had worked for the Japanese military police during the Japanese occupation. The investigation, initiated on the 56th anniversary of Liberation Day (August 15, 2004) by President Roh, was a part of a national campaign to shed light on the activity of collaborators during the Japanese occupation. Ironically, the campaign was vocally supported by Shin and backed by the Uri Party.

The party's popularity has decreased considerably after the 2004 election because of internal strife and scandals related to the President, who had admitted to feeling "incompetent" and unfit for the job.[1] The Uri party failed to secure a single seat out of six electoral districts in the by-election held on April 30, 2005, losing its majority status in the National Assembly.

Prior to the Uri Party's devastating defeat in regional elections held on May 31, 2006, Chung apologized for the party's "self-righteous attitude and inadequacy". The party failed to win in but one area, while the opposition Grand National Party is expected to take 13 of the 16 provinces and major cities. The Uri Party even lost in Daejeon, a city long considered a secure ruling-party stronghold.[2]

Policywise, the Uri Party has emphasized increased spending on social services for the low-income population while de-emphasizing economic growth. It has been conciliatory towards North Korea while moving away from the traditional military alliance with the U.S. and Japan. Indeed, even after the recent testing of a nuclear bomb by North Korea, the Uri Party members have called for continued unconditional aid to North Korea, triggering heavy criticism and charges of being Communist sympathizers. The Uri Party members have placed most of the blame for the current crisis on the hardline policies of the U.S., while neglecting to devote any attention to the numerous transgressions by North Korea, such as the failure to cooperate with the six party talks, manufacture of counterfeit U.S. dollars, illicit sales of arms to terrorist countries, and border provocations in the demilitarized zone.

[edit] See also

South Korea
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