Lee Ki-taek

Lee Ki-taek (; 25 July 1937 – 20 February 2016) was a South Korean politician and parliamentarian.

Started as a youth politician of New Democratic Party in 1967, he served as the Chairman of Democratic Party, a splinter group of United Democratic Party known as "Little Democrats", from 1990 to 1991, and also as a co-president of newly formed Democratic Party along with Kim Dae-jung from 1991 to 1992, and solely from 1992 to 1995. He also served as the chairman for United Democratic Party from 1996 to 1997, and temporarily for Grand National Party in 1998. He was also a long-term Member of the National Assembly between the period of 1967 to 1996.

Early life Lee Ki-taek was born in Youngil County, Keishōhoku Province, Korea, Empire of Japan (now in Pohang, South Korea) on 25 July 1937. He had to move to Busan with his family in 1950 due to the Korean War. He was educated at Busan Commercial High School (now Kaesong High School), and also a master's degree in business administration from Korea University, where he used to be the President of Student Council and led a protest against election fraud of the President Syngman Rhee and his Freedom Party, which occurred the fall of the government.

Political career Early years Prior to the 1967 election, Lee was brought to New Democratic Party (NDP) by its chairman, Yoo Jin-oh. He then ran 14th in the NDP list and elected as the youngest MP in South Korean history. In 1971 election, he switched to Dongnae District 2nd constituency (also known as Busan 3rd constituency) and won. Lee was then appointed as secretary-general by CS, but soon after, both were estranged from each other.

Lee ran for the chairmanship in 1979 leadership election. He received 17.8%, came to 3rd behind of Lee Cheol-seung and Kim Young-sam, and was eliminated from the 1st round. In the 2nd round, he endorsed Kim, who narrowly beat CS. which made him as the youngest person to hold the position in South Korea.

1980s Lee was banned from politics by New Military of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980, This was strongly objected by Kim Young-sam (YS) and Kim Dae-jung (DJ), who advocated to maintain the incumbent presidential system but sought for direct election of the President. Lee was also one of them, but did not join UDP till the 29 June Declaration. Lee, who led the party's dissidents, refused to join and formed Democratic Party, commonly known as "Little Democrats". He subsequently became the party's Chairman, but then decided to merge with Kim Dae-jung (DJ)'s New Democratic Unionist Party (NDUP) after the serious defeat in 1991 local elections.

On 16 September 1991, both NDUP and Little Democrats was combined altogether and re-founded as Democratic Party. Both DJ and Lee was elected as co-presidents. Nevertheless, DJ was widely criticised for his controversial remarks, which called rural voters as "pro-DLP", and/or "pro-Roh Tae-woo". DJ lost to YS, and declared his retirement from politics. Lee solely became the party's president, and was re-elected in 1993.

The Democratic Party then absorbed New Korea Party of Lee Jong-chan in the early 1995, and won the local elections in 1995. However, shortly after, DJ officially returned to politics, and conflicts were sparked. The party's pro-DJ factions, not excluding DJ himself, left and founded a new party, named National Congress for New Politics (NCNP). Lee, who was in charge of this incident, had to resign his presidency. His party, was re-built as United Democratic Party (UDP) on 21 December.

Lee ran for Haeundae & Gijang 1st constituency in 1996 election, but lost to the ruling New Korea Party (NKP)'s Kim Woon-hwan, Roh was then elected as the President of the Republic, but Lee subsequently declined his endorsement towards Roh due to the ideological conflicts. He did not run as MP from 2004 election.

In 2007 presidential election, Lee Ki-taek endorsed GNP's candidate Lee Myung-bak (MB). He then re-joined GNP, and was appointed to National Unification Advisory Council on 1 September 2008. After that, he was also involved in various organisations.

Death and legacy Lee died on 20 February 2016, in St. Mary's Hospital of Seoul, aged 78. This was released on 15 September 2017.

Election results Year Constituency Political party Votes (%) Remarks 1967 Proportional (14th) NDP 3,554,224 (32.70%) Won 1971 Dongnae (2nd) NDP 34,471 (65.89%) Won 1973 Dongnae NDP 57,757 (39.23%) Won 1978 Dongnae NDP 117,216 (40.14%) Won 1985 South & Haeundae NKDP 159,127 (43.00%) Won 1988 Haeundae UDP 54,223 (58.30%) Won 1992 Proportional (2nd) Democratic 6,004,578 (29.20%) Won 1996 Haeundae & Gijang UDP 55,163 (47.65%) Lost 1997 Pohang North UDP 35,137 (28.33%) Lost 2000 Yeonje DNP 26,060 (26.53%) Lost