This essay examines the article by Hagen Koo, entitled "The State, Minjung, and the Working Class in South Korea." A summary of the work, including the theoretical background, is offered and critiqued.
South Korea has experienced a swift and remarkable transition from an agrarian society to a fully class divided industrial society. Prior to the 1960s, class conflict was rarely heard of in South Korea. In the 1970s, however, the term "minjung" emerged as an accurate description of class struggle and social movement in Korea. Minjung implies a broad alliance of alienated classes dispossessed in society. It embodies a powerful opposition ideology and political symbol and provides a new social identity for all of those who oppose the authoritarian regime.
The minjung movement is a social, political, and cultural movement, the form and content of which have been shaped by the particular nature of the state apparatus in South Korea (Koo, 1993, p. 147). While minjung represents class conflict, it is not identical to the working class movement. The working class movement developed in close relation with the minjung movement, but it also had its own unique causes and its own momentum.
The class structure in South Korea has been shaped in large part by the authoritarian structure of the state. As early as the 1960s, the South Korean state was forged into a highly repressive apparatus. Park Chung Hee's military coup in 1961 marked a professionalization of government repression. The new, professionalized military which Park personified was a product of
Rhee's reliance on force and the United States, especially its military aid. But Park lacked support outside his base in the military. The 1963 election, despite the disorganized and under-funded opposition, resulted in only a narrow victory.
The absence of middle class support plagued Park's regime, especially the continuing opposition from the student movement. Yet, the oppositi...