[Politics X-File] Do You Know the Legendary Parliamentary Party ‘Huimangui Hanguk Sindang’?

(41) 2000 General Election, Chungnam National Assembly Member Elected
Brief and Intense Party History, Dissolved in Just Over a Year
New Party Founded and District Won, The Wall of Real Politics

Editor's Note‘Political X-Files’ is a series that delivers ‘unprecedented stories’ recorded in the election results and incidents of Korean politics.

For a newly established party to produce a district-elected member in a National Assembly general election is like a camel passing through the eye of a needle. Some might wonder what this means when certain parties elect over 100 members, but many political forces that were founded just before general elections have already experienced this.

In the most recent general election, the 21st National Assembly election in 2020, only three parties succeeded in electing district representatives. They were the Democratic Party of Korea, the United Future Party (the predecessor of the People Power Party), and the Justice Party. Considering that the Justice Party elected only one district representative, the election was essentially a contest between the Democratic Party and the United Future Party.

It was not that other party candidates were absent. For example, in Seoul's Jongno district alone, there were as many as 10 candidates affiliated with parties. Candidates from the Democratic Party, United Future Party, Our Republican Party, Minjung Party, Let's Go! Peace and Human Rights Party, Republican Party, National Revolutionary Dividend Party, People's New Party, Minjung Democratic Party, and the Grand National Party all ran.

National Assembly Member Badge. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Some parties might sound familiar, but they are essentially different parties that only share the same name as those famous in the past. Every general election sees numerous parties being founded and dissolved.

The parties that consistently produce district-elected members through voter choice are the Democratic Party, the People Power Party lineage, and the Justice Party, the senior progressive party. Most newly established parties fail to elect even a single member and become forgotten entities. They are founded during general elections and disappear without a trace.

Among these difficult-to-achieve district-elected parties, there are some that feel unfamiliar even to most citizens and politicians. The legendary name is ‘Hope of Korea New Party’ (Huimang-ui Hanguk Shindang). How many people know when this party existed and who its National Assembly members were?

The Hope of Korea New Party succeeded in entering the National Assembly in the 2000 16th general election. It was founded in February 2000, two months before the 16th general election. It emerged amid factional conflicts within the United Liberal Democrats (ULD), the dominant force in the Chungcheong region at the time.

The political base of the Hope of Korea New Party was Chungcheong. The face of the Hope of Korea New Party was politician Kim Yong-hwan.

He is one of the representative politicians symbolizing Chungcheong. During the Park Geun-hye administration, he was part of the so-called ‘Group of Seven’ at the top of the power pyramid. Politician Kim Yong-hwan founded the new party and ran in the general election due to the political circumstances at the time.

The National Assembly plenary session hall. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The DJP (Kim Dae-jung-Kim Jong-pil) coalition, which led to the birth of the Kim Dae-jung government, was related to an understanding about a parliamentary system. However, when the announcement to postpone the constitutional amendment for the parliamentary system came in 1999, politicians opposing this within the ULD left the party and took on a new challenge. They sought a different path amid the crisis that the parliamentary system might fail.

A representative figure was politician Kim Yong-hwan. He ran as the Hope of Korea New Party candidate in the 16th general election in April 2000 for the National Assembly seat of Boryeong City and Seocheon County in Chungnam Province. While founding a party is possible when politicians unite their will, winning an election is a completely different matter.

At that time, the Chungcheong region had the ULD as the dominant political force, and the Grand National Party, which continued the legacy of conservative politics, was also strong. Moreover, the Millennium Democratic Party had a considerable support base, and the Democratic People's Party, which was not inferior in name recognition to the two major parties, was also a competitor.

The Hope of Korea New Party also fielded candidates in Gongju City and Yeongi County, Asan City, and Dangjin County in Chungnam. Except for the candidate in Asan City who recorded just over 10% of the vote, other candidates received single-digit percentages. This means they were far from winning.

However, politician Kim Yong-hwan, the face of the Hope of Korea New Party, was different. He received 35,125 votes, accounting for 38.7% of the vote. He defeated candidates from the Grand National Party and the Democratic Party, as well as ULD candidate Lee Geung-gyu (31.5%), and enjoyed the joy of victory. Kim Yong-hwan showed strong support in Boryeong City, where he received 47.1% of the vote.

National Assembly Building stock photo / Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

Kim Yong-hwan was the only National Assembly member elected by the Hope of Korea New Party in the 2000 16th general election. Thanks to him, the Hope of Korea New Party was able to participate as a parliamentary party in the National Assembly plenary sessions. Politician Kim Yong-hwan's victory was due to his solid regional base.

Among prominent politicians, there are cases where they win as independents if they do not receive party nominations in general elections, but it is rare to found a new party and win by challenging as such. This shows how high the barriers of existing parties are. The relatively higher chance of winning as an independent is because voters respond to the campaign promise that if elected, the candidate will return to their ‘home party.’

When founding a completely new party, it is difficult to gain the support of traditional voter bases. Founding a new party is like throwing oneself into a cold and hungry wilderness. This will be the same for the 22nd general election scheduled for April 10 next year. Various political forces are preparing to found new parties for their own reasons, but whether they can produce district-elected members remains to be seen.

So, what happened to the successful case of the 2000 16th general election? The Hope of Korea New Party, founded in February 2000, just two months before the general election, went through a dissolution process in October 2001.

Politician Kim Yong-hwan, the face and only National Assembly member of the Hope of Korea New Party, chose to declare the party's dissolution and join the Grand National Party, making the party's extinction inevitable. Politician Kim Yong-hwan was able to seek a new political path as the Grand National Party's vice chairman.

However, the Hope of Korea New Party, which was a parliamentary party in the 16th general election, lost its place in the National Assembly plenary sessions as its incumbent member disappeared.