Korean National Party (Napoleon's World)

The Korean National Party is a defunct Korean political party in existence from 1948 until 1983, when it dissolved after its candidate Chun Doo-hwan was defeated in the 1982 Presidential election and was reformed into the Democratic Liberal Party. The KNP, known often as "the Party" in Korea, ruled Korea for the entirety of its existence with mostly token opposition and backing by a military loyal to its chief officers, most notably with President Pak Mae-Hyong as its party secretary and co-Chairman. After Pak's death in 1973 a few months into the first of his constitutionally mandated five-year term, the Party backed Song Yo Chan as President from July 1973 until February 1978, when he was constitutionally mandated to step aside. He was succeeded by Party Treasurer and Minister of the Interior Kim Choo-song, who won a contested and controversial 1977 election that sparked riots throughout the country. Party Chairman Chun Doo-hwan was defeated in the December 1982 election by the candidate of a coalition of left and centrist parties a year after the KNP had a disastrous showing in the Parliament of Korea, losing control of both chambers of the legislature for the first time in its history. The party officially dissolved on March 2, 1983, and its members split between the conservative Democratic Liberal Party and the centrist New Korean Party.