Brief History of the Korean Labor Movement

Still on Hagen Koo's article Labor Movement in Korea Losing Steam (Insight into Korea, Herald Media 2007) where he outlined the history of the country's labor movement.

Many foreign observers attributed the origins of South Korea's labor movement to the labor conflicts that erupted in the summer of 1987, in the wake of the country's political transition to democracy.

After Chun Doo-hwan acceded to the demands of the opposition for a direct presidential election, industrial laborers broke a long period of imposed silence and passivity and plunged into collective actions.

From July to September 1987, more than 3000 labor conflicts occurred, exceeding the number of labor disputes that took place during the two preceding decades.

Even though the 1987 labor struggles was a landmark in the development of the Korean labor movement, it was not the beginning of the democratic labor movement in South Korea.

The movement started much earlier with the famous suicide by a young tailor, Chon Tae-il (pictured, modern-day statue put up in his memory), in 1970. He set himself on fire to protest against inhumane working conditions in a sweatshop district known as Peace Market in Seoul.

"Until his body was completely burned by the flames, Chon held a copy of the Labor Standard Laws in his hand and shouted: "We are not machines!" "Let us rest on Sunday!" "Abide by the Labor Standard Laws!" "Don’t exploit workers!"

Chon's self-immolation had a tremendous impact on the working-class movement. It sowed the spirit of resistance and rebellion in the minds of millions of workers, and provided a powerful symbol for the working class in a society that until then did not have a sacred symbol that could inspire the mobilize workers for a collective goal. What he fought for was justice and human dignity rather than simple economic improvement. It therefore carried "an enormous moral authority."

More concretely, his tragic death played an instrumental role in bringing students and intellectuals to the assistance of the grassroots labor movement during the harsh authoritarian period.

Chon's heroic self-sacrifice subsequently led to resistance undertaken by young female workers employed in labor-intensive light manufacturing sectors.

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, female workers in the textile, garment and electronic industries waged "incredible episodes of labor resistance."

In one instance, women protesters stood naked in front of combat troops to prevent the latter from coming nearer, while in another instance, strikers threatened to commit collective suicide with broken bottles.

"Women's struggle during this period demonstrated an amazing spirit of resistance and comradeship,” Koo wrote.