The party was founded by People's Party dissidents who were in a faction that was closely associated with late former PresidentKim Dae-jung. Plans for the new party came about following a decision by People's Party leaderAhn Cheol-soo and Bareun Party leader Yoo Seong-min to merge their respective parties in January 2018 that would go onto form the Bareunmirae Party. The initial announcement was called "hasty" for being presented before votes were cast among each respective parties' members. This plan for merging the centrist People's Party with the center-right Bareun Party faced opposition within the People's Party, especially with lawmakers from North and South Jeolla which noted to be liberal-leaning provinces. On 28 January, sixteen lawmakers from the People's Party, including former floor leader and party leaderPark Jie-won as well as Chung Dong-young announced their plans to form what is now the Party for Democracy and Peace. The party formerly formed a parliamentary group with the Justice Party called the Lawmakers for Peace and Justice. The parliamentary group was disbanded after the death of Roh Hoe-chan, an MP from Justice Party. On 12 August 2019, two-thirds of the members of Parliament for the Party for Democracy and Peace stated that they will be leaving the Party and starting new. “The Party for Democracy and Peace was launched to solidify the identity of the democracy group that succeeded the spirit of the Gwangju Uprising, and to restore the pride of the peace group to develop the Sunshine Policy. But for the past year and a half we have failed to meet the public’s expectations and desire,” said party Floor LeaderYou Sung-yop during a press conference at the National Assembly.
During the administration of Roh Moo-hyun, the Party for Democracy and Peace and the Democratic Party used to be united as the Uri Party. During that time, both Lee Hae-chan and Chung Dong-young were in the same party and cabinet. In social policy, the party tends to be more conservative than Democratic Party. The party opposes same-sex marriages and abortion. Especially on the abortion issue, the party is more conservative than the Liberty Korea Party.
