ABSTRACT
Trade unions, industrial relations and economic development have been closely related in South Korea (Korea). During the development era from the early 1960s to the mid-1980s Korea successfully transformed from one of the poorest nations in the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War to a booming economy and modern nation-state. Its ‘economic miracle’ generated overall real annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates of more than 8 per cent on average per annum and export growth rates of a phenomenal 30 per cent (Rowley et al. 2002) and expanded employment (Rowley et al. 2005).
