The Progressive Justice Party changed its name to the Justice Party at the 2nd party congress on 16 July 2013. At the 4th party congress on 22 November 2015, the party officially merged with the extra-parliamentary groups: Preparatory Committee for the People's Party, Labor Politics Coalition, Members of Labor Party, after motions to merge the party with the Justice Party failed. After the merger, Na Gyung-che, Ex-leader of the Labor Party, and Kim Se-kyun, leader of Preparatory Committee for the People's Party, were elevated to co-leadership roles, while Sim Sang-jung remained as a standing party leader. Kim Se-kyun stepped down from the co-leadership role in September 2016. In the legislative election held in April 2016, the party increased its seat total by one with the election of Roh Hoe-chan to the Seongsan constituency in the city of Changwon. The party polled 7.2% in the party list ballot, returning a total of six legislators to the National Assembly. In the 2017 election, Sim Sang-jung ran as the party's nominee after winning the party primary. Sim was endorsed by Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and ran a campaign focused on labor and social issues. Sim received media attention for being the only candidate arguing in favor of marriage equality during the debate. Sim won 6.2% of the vote, making her the most successful left-wing presidential candidate since the democratization of the country in 1987. In July 2017, with Sim's two-year leadership term coming to an end, the party elected sitting National Assembly member Lee Jeong-mi as the new leader over Park Won-suk by 56 to 44. On 31 March 2018, the party confirmed its decision to form a parliamentary group with Party for Democracy and Peace, under the name of Members group of Peace and Justice. The parliamentary group will be officially registered on 2 April. The incumbent floor leader of the party, Roh Hoe-chan was chosen to head the parliamentary group in the National Assembly. Roh Hoe-chan's abrupt passing on 23 July 2018 resulted in the automatic dissolution of the parliamentary group. Roh's death was widely mourned, attracting thousands of mourners and tributes across the South Korean political spectrum. The party retained Roh's Changwon seat, beating Liberty Korea challenger in the by-election held on 13 April 2019. In July 2019, the party elected Sim Sang-jung as the new leader. It is her second non-consecutive term as the party's leader.
Ideology
Economy
The party calls for structural change of the Korean economy through radical change to the current Chaebol dominated economic system, democratic control of the capitalistic excess through the implementation of economic democracy and public ownership of basic utilities. Pursuing an alternative form of economic system in which basic conditions for people's life is provided for everyone, equally. Where public or market economy is inefficient, the party will advocate a social economy, including cooperatives and further increasing the role of the social economy to the ones traditionally held by the market. It also calls for the protection of and the increasing of labor rights and they promote unionization in the workplace, so to equalize the power balance between the capitalists and the workers. The party advocates for the creation of welfare state, drastically increasing funding in the public sector, providing universal welfare service like childcare, education, employment, housing, healthcare, and post-retirement life. The party will fund these programs through increased taxation based on the redistributive tax policy.
Environment
The party calls for an end to unrestricted development, pursuing sustainable development. It is also in favor of animal welfare. It argues in favor of developing renewable energy, with sights on doing away with oil and coal altogether. The party is against nuclear energy as an alternative, and advocates closing down old nuclear power plants and ceasing further construction of the plants.
Social issues
The party calls for the eradication of all forms of discrimination, advocating increased participation of the minorities in the political sphere. It further advocates pursuing gender equality in the workplaces and preserving women's right to choose to have an abortion. The party favors increased disability rights and protecting migrants from human rights violations and economic discrimination. The party stands strongly against any form of oppression based on one's sexuality or gender identity. It calls for legislation relating to hate crime to protect the human rights of minorities. It also acknowledges diverse family structures without any discrimination.
Foreign relations
In the midst of the conflict between the United States and China for regional hegemony and Japanese attempts at rearmament, the party believes peace in the Korean peninsula is a paramount issue. The party rejects any form of hegemony from both sides, and refuses to take a side on the issue. The party aims to sign a peace treaty with the North, putting an end to the Korean War once and for all. While the party believes unification between the North and the South should be a desirable goal, it doesn't consider unification through war or collapse of the North Korean regime as a viable solution. Unification should be pursued based on mutual respect between respective countries and further increasing exchange and cooperation.
