The party was formed in 1995 as the National Congress for New Politics after
Kim Dae-jung returned to active politics following his retirement in 1992. The majority of the party's early supporters were former members of the opposition Democratic Party, formed in 1991. In the
1996 Parliamentary election the party managed to come a strong second, winning 79 seats. Later Kim's Democratic Party merged to the party. In the
1997 Presidential election, the party formed
Alliance of DJP along with
Alliance of Liberal Democrats, and Kim won the Presidency with 40% of the vote. Dozens of members of the party, including
Shin Ki-ha, were killed in the crash of
Korean Air Flight 801 in August 1997. In 2000, the party merged with the smaller
New People Party, led by
Rhee In-je, and a number of conservative politicians to create the
Millennium Democratic Party. ==Ideology==