Democratic Justice Party

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The Democratic Justice Party (민주정의당 ,民主正義黨) was the ruling party of South Korea from 1963 to 1990.

It was formed in 1963 as the Democratic Republican Party and was the political vehicle for Park Chung Hee. It quickly became the most powerful party in South Korea, dominating the legislature. The opposition was subjected to varying degrees of harassment, and the electoral system was rigged in its favor. However, it barely succeeded in getting Park elected to three presidential terms.

In 1971, just after Park won a third term, he declared a state of emergency. Later in 1971, he issued the authoritarian Yusin constitution, which made him a virtual dictator. Conversely, the Democratic Republicans' power was greatly increased as well, and for the next eight years the party ruled South Korea as a virtual one-party state.

After Park's assassination, Chun Doo-hwan took over the party and renamed it the Democratic Justice Party in 1980. Even though a less authoritarian constitution was enacted that year, the political system was rigged heavily in favor of the DJP. The situation changed in 1987, when DJP presidential candidate Roh Tae Woo promised that year's election would be free and democratic. In 1990, the DJP merged with Kim Young Sam's party and another party to form the Democratic Liberal Party, which is now the Grand National Party.