The Chondoist Chongu Party is a popular front party in North Korea. The party was founded on 8 February 1946 by a group of followers of the Ch'ŏndogyo. The party increasingly came under the influence of the government over time and is a part of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, a nominal alliance of parties dominated by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. The founding-leader of the party was Kim Tarhyon. The party is headquartered in the capital Pyongyang. History The Ch'ŏndogyo religious ideology was founded in response to the Christian missionary activities in Korea in the end of the nineteenth century. The Ch'ŏndogyo became a hotbed of Korean nationalism. Ch'ŏndo farmers participated in the Donghak Peasant Revolution in 1894 and the movement played an important role in the March 1st Movement in 1919. The communist parties of the Soviet Union and Korea perceived Ch'ŏndogyo as a "utopian peasant movement". By 1945, Ch'ŏndogyo had the second largest religion in northern Korea, with believers. The Chondoist Chongu Party was established on 8 February 1946 with Ch'ŏndogyo activist Kim Tarhyon as its first leader. It assembled 98,000 members after a few months of existence, and was larger (in membership) than the Communist Party of Korea. In December 1946 it had 204,387 members. On 22 July 1946, the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland was formed as a united front. The Chondoist Chongu Party was one of the four parties included in it. Thus the subordination of the party under the leadership of the Communist Party of Korea was formalised. In the 1946–1947 elections to people's committees, village people's committees and myŏn people's committees, about 5.3 percent of the 70,454 elected deputies belonged to the Chondoist Chongu Party. Kim Tarhyon became one of two deputy chairmen of the People's Assembly (the national parliament). During the first session of the People's Assembly a Chondoist Chongu Party deputy, Kim Yun'gŏl, held a critical speech against the non-compliance with laws passed by the people's committees during the land reform process. Kim Yun'gŏl was fiercely attacked, and he retracted his statement. When the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was constituted in 1948, the Chondoist Chongu Party obtained 16.5 percent of the seats in the Supreme People's Assembly. However, the situation for the party soon turned difficult. Large sections of the Soviet and North Korean communist leaderships did not trust the party,