Progressivism in South Korea

Progressivism in South Korea is broadly associated with social democracy, cultural progressivism and left-wing nationalism. South Korea's "progressivism" is often used in a similar sense to 'South Korean Left' or 'leftist'.

Historically, there have been communist forces, but most of them have been powerless in contemporary South Korean politics.

Domestically, they advocated the break-up of the large industrial conglomerates known as chaebols and voiced support for trade unions. They also advocated the withdrawal of US troops stationed on the peninsula.

Hyukshinkye
South Korea's early left-wing forces were mainly divided into 'communist' and 'non-communist'.

At that time, South Korean non-communist leftists were mainly called Hyukshinkye. At that time, it was politically repressed by both centre-right liberals and conservatives. In particular, the Korean War led to a significant weakening, as some of the Hyukshinkye were also driven to communism. After the forced dissolution of the Progressive Party led by Cho Bong-am in 1958, it virtually collapsed.

Progressive parties, including the United Socialist Party led by Kim Chul, continued the tradition of Hyukshinkye, but its power was minimal, and since the 1980s, Hyukshinkye's tradition has been completely cut off from power as Kim Chul and other key figures have shifted to pro-military conservative stances.

PD and NL
The United States remained silent about the Gwangju Uprising by the military dictatorship in the 1980s, and backed the Chun Doo-hwan government. This served as an opportunity for some of the democratization movement forces in South Korea to develop anti-American sentiment. As a result, some of South Korea's moderate liberal pro-democratization activists gradually accepted socialism and became more left-wing. During this period, the left-wing movement in South Korea was largely divided into Minjungminju-wing and Minjokhaebang-wing. After the collapse of the Cold War in the 1990s, they moderated their tendencies than in the past to form a political party named Democratic Force.

PD was a Western-style leftist party, influenced by American liberalism and social democracy, while NL was a left-wing nationalist party that mixes ethnic nationalism, reunificationism and social progressivism. PD and NL are political terms that refer to the two pillars of South Korea's progressive camp and are still frequently used today. As of now, the representative PD-affiliated progressive party is the Justice Party, and the representative NL-affiliated progressive party is the Progressive Party.

Shinjwapa
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, the New Left movement in Europe and the United States and postmodernist discourse became known, creating a Shinjwapa in South Korea. They advocate youth rights, LGBT rights and feminism. Currently, South Korea's representative Shinjwapa parties include the Green Party and Basic Income Party.

Communist or far-left socialist

 * Workers' Party of South Korea (1946–1949; banned)
 * Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front → National Democratic Front of South Korea → Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front (1969–; banned)
 * Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party → Labor Party (2016–2022; unregistered; merged)
 * People's Democracy Party (2016–)

Hyukshinkye (Innovation-faction)

 * Preparatory Committee for National Construction → People's Party of Korea → People's Labor Party (1945–1950)
 * Socialist Party (1951–1953)
 * Progressive Party (1956–1958; banned)
 * United Socialist Party of Korea (1961–1967; banned 1961–1966)

Minjungminju (PD)

 * The People's Party (1990–1992)
 * People's Victory 21 → Democratic Labor Party (1997–2011)
 * Youth Progressive Party → Socialist Party → Hope Socialist Party → Korea Socialist Party → Socialist Party (1998–2012)
 * New Progressive Party (2008–2012)
 * Unified Progressive Party (2011–2012)
 * Progressive Justice Party → Justice Party (2012–) - However, there are a few Minjokhaebang and Shinjwapa factions in the Justice Party.
 * Labor Party (2013–)
 * Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party → Labor Party (2016–2022; unregistered; merged)

Minjokhaebang (NL)

 * People's Victory 21 → Democratic Labor Party (1997–2011)
 * Unified Progressive Party (2011–2014; banned)
 * People's United Party (2016–2017)
 * New People's Party (2017)
 * Minjung Party → Progressive Party (2017–)

Shinjwapa (New Left)

 * Green Social Democrats (2004)
 * Green Peace Party (2002–2004)
 * Social Democratic Party of Korea (2002–2004)
 * Green Party Korea (2012–)
 * Future Party (2017–)
 * Basic Income Party (2020-)
 * New Progressive Alliance (2024)
 * Social Democratic Party (2024)

Progressive-liberal

 * Democratic Independent Party (1947–1948)
 * Progressive Party (1956–1958)
 * People's Party (1988)
 * Hankyoreh Democratic Party (1988–1991)
 * Popular Party (1989–1992)
 * Participation Party (2010–2011)
 * Unified Progressive Party (2011–2012, factions)
 * Youth Party (2012)
 * Justice Party (2012–)
 * Peace and Justice (2018)


 * Future Party (2017–)
 * Basic Income Party (2020–)
 * Let's Go! Environmental Party (2020–)
 * Democratic Alliance of Korea (2024–; satellite of the liberal DPK, the NPA and the Progressive Party)

Progressive media

 * OhmyNews - liberal-leaning bias
 * Pressian - progressive
 * Voice of the People - progressive, resistance nationalism
 * Yeoseong Shinmun - feminism

Progressive personalities

 * Bong Joon-ho
 * Ha-Joon Chang
 * Han Sang-gyun
 * Hong Sehwa
 * Hong Seok-cheon
 * Jang Hye-young
 * Jeon Tae-il
 * Kim Yeo-jin
 * Kwon In-sook
 * Lim Su-kyung
 * Lee Hyori
 * Lim Ji-hyeon
 * Lee Yeong-hui
 * Lyuh Woon-hyung
 * Moon Ik-hwan
 * Park Chan-wook
 * Rhyu Si-min
 * Roh Hoe-chan
 * Roh Su-hui
 * Ryu Ho-jeong
 * Pak Noja
 * Shin Hae-chul
 * Sim Sang-jung
 * Yun Hyon-seok