Chamber:
	Kuk Hoe
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	24 March 1992
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members’ term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	Following the previous (April 1988) general elections, the ruling Democratic Justice Party (DJP) merged, in January 1990, with two of the three main former opposition groups – the Reunification Democratic Party (RDP) and the New Democratic Republican Party (NDRP) – to form a new party, the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP). As result of this merger, the DLP gained control of more than two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly. In 1991, a new opposition group, the Democratic Party (DP), was formed, by merging the Party for Peace and Democracy (PPD) and the RDP members unfavourable to the formation of the DLP. The election was officially announced on 7 March 1992. Despite its dominant parliamentary position, the DLP was plagued by internal conflict between its three factions, one of which (the former RDP) led by Mr. Kim Young-Sam, a potential successor as President of the Republic to Mr. Roh Tae Woo (also leader of the DLP) after the latter’s term expires in February 1993. The 18-day campaign, in which 1,048 candidates (including 223 independents) vied for the Assembly’s 237 directly elected seats, centred mostly on the country’s economy. This issue was particularly stressed by the newly founded, conservative Unification National Party (UNP), headed by Mr. Chung Ju Yung, which waged a vigorous pro-business campaign and attacked the record of the outgoing Government with regard to inflation and the foreign trade deficit. The DLP, for its part, campaigned for “stability” in the political sphere and continued prosperity. DP advocated policies for price stability, safety of citizens and full enforcement of local autonomies. Polling day was marked by strong regional voting patterns as the DLP was dealt a major setback, narrowly loosing its absolute parliamentary majority even after the proportional allocation of “national constituency” seats among the leading parties. Its losses were picked up by DP, co-led by Mr. Kim Dae Jung and Mr. Lee Kitack, and UNP, which both fared better than expected. These results were widely considered a defeat for President Roh, who acknowledged that the DLP’ poor performance stemmed from intra-party feuding and that the Government should take account of the “people’s will” in its future policies. Subsequent to the poll, the DLP secured the support of at least 10 independent members to gain a working legislative majority of 159 seats. On 30 March, President Roh reshuffled the Cabinet, replacing four Ministers. The Prime Minister is Mr. Ro Jai-Bong.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (24 March 1992): Elections results
Number of registered electors	29,003,828
Voters	20,843,482 (71.9%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	259,670
Valid votes	20,583,812

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Candidates in Districts	Votes	%
Democratic Liberal Party (DLP)	237	7,923,719	38.5
Democratic Party (DP)	225	6,004,577	29.2
Unification National Party (UNP)	189	3,574,419	17.4
Party for New Political Reform (PNPR)	111	369,044	1.8
Independents	226	2,372,005	11.5

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Proportional	Direct Election
Democratic Liberal Party (DLP)	149	33	116
Democratic Party (DP)	97	22	75
Unification National Party (UNP)	31	7	24
Party for New Political Reform (PNPR)	1	0	1
Independents	21	0	21

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	296
Women:	3

Distribution of seats according to age:
36-40 years	8
41-45 years	18
46-50 years	52
51-55 years	90
56-60 years	89
Over 61 years	42
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Politicians	240
Employees	10
Lawyers	9
Businessmen	5
Teachers	4
Pharmacists, doctors	3
Construction workers	2
Others	26