ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents an overview of key concepts covered in subsequent chapters of the book. This book has sought to determine the key factors that contributed to the failure of socialism in Korea during the post-Korean War era. The repression-centred explanation does not account for the exceptional case of the ephemeral success of the People's Party(PP) in the 1950s, during the height of the Cold War. Korea in the pre-democracy era lacked certain pre-conditions for social democracy, such as democratisation and capitalism, along with facing harsh repression toward socialist movements. The Democratic Labour Party's(DLP) in the post-democratic era was defeated in consecutive elections. The main reason was that the DLP failed to transform from a revolutionary party into a reformist party in terms of its party programs, tenets and election campaigns. This failure contrasts with the success of the socialist tendencies in Western Europe in the post-war era and the socialist parties in South America in the post-Cold War era.
