by Pak Yong-il until his death in 2022. The previous chairman was Kim Yong-dae. , the party had more than 30,000 members. Criticism of government policy Contrary to its usual portrayal in official propaganda, for a brief time in the mid-to-late 1980s, the party's journal featured texts raising criticism of government policies. These included calls to give more support to people with disabilities or improve the petition system, as well as raising the potential benefits of allowing more than one candidate per election district and allowing voters to decide which would be elected. It is believed these statements may have been linked to a brief liberalization of North Korea's justice system that occurred around the same time. Ideology The Korean Democratic Party was renamed the Korean Social Democratic Party in 1981. Since then, the party has been used in North Korean propaganda targeting foreign sympathizers. Because of the ostensible social democratic ideology, which is intelligible to foreigners, the Social Democratic Party is used in such propaganda much more than the other legal minor party, Chondoist Chongu Party. In the 1990s, the KSDP published periodical magazines in Korean and English. These magazines sought to simultaneously convince foreigners that North Korea has a multi-party system with independent parties but also that, paradoxically, minor parties in North Korea support the Workers' Party of Korea without reservation. Nominally, the party seeks to establish a social democracy befitting Korea's historical conditions and national characteristics. The party's motto is "independence, sovereignty, democracy, peace and the defence of human rights". It is part of the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, a coalition with the other two legal parties in North Korea, the Chondoist Chongu Party and the Workers' Party of Korea. Election results North Korea Supreme People's Assembly South Korea Vice President Constitutional Assembly See also List of political parties in North Korea Notes References Further reading External links at Ryomyong, the website of the National Reconciliation Council 1945 establishments in Korea Anti-imperialist organizations Political parties established in 1945 Social democratic parties in Asia Socialist parties in North Korea Workers' Party of Korea