United Future Party

The political scandal in 2016 led President Park Geun-hye to be impeached, and several MPs quit from the then-ruling Saenuri Party to form the Bareun Party.[12] The Saenuri Party changed its name to the Liberty Korea Party (LKP),[13] but following the final impeachment of Park on 10 March 2017, it de jure lost its ruling party position.[14] After the Democratic presidential candidate Moon Jae-in was elected on 9 May,[15] it officially became the main opposition.

Though several Bareun MPs returned to the LKP, the LKP did not recover its support, losing ground in the 2018 local elections.[16] Its President, Hong Jun-pyo, immediately resigned in order to take responsibility for the serious defeat.[16] The Bareun Party, which had merged with the minor centrist People's Party to form the Bareunmirae Party, also faced a defeat at the local elections.[17]

Both conservative parties then held snap leadership elections. On 2 September 2018, the Bareunmirae Party elected Sohn Hak-kyu as its new President.[18] On 27 February 2019, the Liberty Korea Party elected former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn as its new Leader.[19] Soon, Lee Un-ju, a Bareunmirae MP, quit her party[20] and was widely expected to join the LKP[21] but formed a new party named Onward for Future 4.0.[22] Other former Bareun MPs faced conflicts with its President Sohn also exited and founded the New Conservative Party.[23] As a "conservative union", the Liberty Korea Party, Onward for Future 4.0, and the New Conservative Party agreed to merge and establish a new party.[24]

The new party's name was initially set as the Grand Unified New Party (Korean: 대통합신당),[25] but soon changed to the current name.[26] Park Hyung-joon, who led the merger and refoundation, explained that the name shows both support for youths and political solidarity.[27]

On 17 February 2020, 3 conservative parties were finally merged and refounded as the United Future Party.[10] It soon elected Liberty Korea president Hwang Kyo-ahn as the new President.[28] Though much of the new party leadership resembles that of the LKP, Vice-Presidents Won Hee-ryong and Kim Yŏng-hwan are not from the LKP.[28]

The President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in and the Democratic Party Leader Lee Hae-chan congratulated the new party's founding, but it was soon reported that the move was not welcomed by several members.[29] Some sources also reported that the party is planning to file a lawsuit against Moon.[30][31][32]

Yoo Seong-min, the former Bareunmirae president, did not attend the founding congress.[33] Yoo Young-ha, a pro-Park Geun-hye figure, exited the LKP before the formation of the new party.[34]

The party contested as an alliance with its sister satellite party, Future Korea Party (FKP), in 2020 election. However, some UFP candidates provoked controversies for defamatory remarks, such as Cha Myong-jin and Kim Dae-ho.[35]

The party was defeated in the election with one of the historically worst results for a conservative party in South Korea. They won 103 out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, slightly more than one-third of the seats.[36] It lost several key-figures i.e. Oh Se-hoon, Na Kyung-won, Shim Jae-chul, Kim Jin-tae and so on.[37][38] The Party Leader Hwang Kyo-ahn, who contested for Jongno District, also defeated by the former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon.[39] Hwang announced he would stand down as the party president.[40][41]

Following the resignation of Hwang, the party was reported they would temporarily establish the Emergency Planning Committee, led by Kim Chong-in.[42] It was, however, disagreed by several members including Kim Young-woo.[43] Hong Jun-pyo, who showed his intention to return to the UFP, also opposed the party's proposal[44] and revealed Kim's past corruption allegations.[45]

On 8 May, Joo Ho-young was elected the party's Floor Leader and therefore, he automatically became the party's interim Leader.[46][47] On 22 May, the party held an election in order to nominate Kim Chong-in as the interim President till the next by-elections on 7 April 2021,[48] which was accepted by him.[49][50] The same day, the FKP also announced its merger by 29 May.[48] On 28 May, both UFP and FKP officially declared its merged as the unified UFP.[11]

The UFP has a strong socially conservative tendency based on traditional values. In particular, the absolute majority of major politicians in the UFP are negative about LGBT rights.[51] Oh Se-hoon and other politicians, known as moderate conservatives,[52] are also opposed to homosexuality.[1]

As a political party representing South Korea's conservatism, the UFP pursues a traditional social culture and puts forward the values of family love and patriotism.[53]

The UFP highly values the military alliance with the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and NATO all members of the European Union such as France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain and believes in hard-line policies in dealing with North Korea. As China-South Korea relations is not intimate, UFP support to distance themselves from China and oppose the Communist Party of China, although a formal relationship is kept.