ABSTRACT
The labour movement in Korea began with the advent of the modem wage labour system in the 1890s. This chapter discusses the labour movement and employment relations (ER) during the period of almost 100 years from 1890 to 1986. Throughout this time, the Japanese military government and successive Korean administrations continued to suppress the autonomous labour movement with some brief exceptional periods, although the nature of the labour oppression differed slightly from government to government. This chapter divides this 100-year period into 6 sub-periods mainly on the basis of the nature of the political system and the state labour policy at the time, because the state determined a large part of ER in Korea. Specifically, the sub-periods used are as follows: (1) Japanese Occupation (1890-1945); (2) the American Military Government (1946-1948); (3) the first republic (1948 1960); (4) the first half of President Park Chung-Hee’s regime after the 1961 military coup (1961-1971); (5) the second half of President Park’s regime (1972-1979); (6) after the 1980 military coup (1980-1986). For each sub period, we describe the economy and the nature of the state, employers and the labour movement, as well as the interactions between the three actors and the unique features of the ER of the time.
