Korean labour movement: The birth, rise and transformation of the democratic trade union movement

초록

This chapter aims to identify the place of the labour movement in contemporary Korea by tracing the transformation of the democratic labour movement. After a long period of suppression, Korea’s labour movement had its heyday from 1987. However, the movement had to handle new challenges, including neo-liberalism creating divisions within the working class and the consolidation of liberal democracy undermining unions’ capacity to combine the interest of their members and broader public desire for democratisation. The revitalisation of the movement depends upon how unions build an inclusive labour movement together with the emerging agency of marginalised labour.