Korean Social Democratic Party

in 1945, after the Liberation of Korea|221x221px The party was established in Pyongyang by Cho Man-sik on 3 November 1945 as the Korean Democratic Party (). It quickly gained support from Christian businessmen and intellectuals, as well as well-off workers, and had around half a million members after only a few weeks, Cho was forced to appoint Choe Yong-gon, a secret communist sympathizer, as his deputy in the party, while the communists increasingly targeted the party for infiltration. In North Korea, the party held its first Congress on 24 February 1946, when Choe Yong-gon was formally elected as leader of the party while Cho Man-sik was declared as "a traitor to the nation and a hireling of American and Japanese imperialism". The 1990 elections saw the party awarded 51 seats. It had 52 seats following the 1998 elections and 50 after the 2009 elections. It retained the same number of seats in the 2014 elections. After the disbandment of the Fatherland Front alliance in 2024, the party runs under the "Friendly parties and religious organizations" umbrella in North Korean elections. ==Ideology==

The Korean Democratic Party was initially founded by Cho Man-sik as a nationalist party that could potentially play a significant role in a coalition with the communists. == Organization ==

The KSDP was a member of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea from 1949 until the front's dissolution in 2024. It participated in the front alongside the other legal political parties and organisations of North Korea. From 1982 until the early 2000s, the party distributed its party journal abroad in Korean and English translation. Contrary to its usual portrayal in official propaganda, for a brief time in the mid-to-late 1980s, the party's journal featured texts raising criticism of government policies. These included calls to give more support to people with disabilities or improve the petition system, as well as raising the potential benefits of allowing more than one candidate per election district and allowing voters to decide which would be elected. It is believed these statements may have been linked to a brief liberalization of North Korea's justice system that occurred around the same time. Since the mid-2000s, its party journal is only available online. The previous chairman was Kim Yong-dae. , the party had more than 30,000 members. In March 2026, North Korean state media identified Ri Son-gwon as the chairman of the KSDP. ==International relations==

The Korean Social Democratic Party had formed a sisterhood alliance of the now-defunct South Korea's Democratic Labor Party and Unified Progressive Party. The party also has contacts with South Korea's Progressive Party. The party historically maintained communications with the now-defunct Japan Socialist Party. ==Election results==

North Korea South Korea ==See also==