ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the process of the democratisation of the labour movement in South Korea was begun by women workers in the textile and garment industry in the decade of the 1970s and shows that their achievement has gone unrecognised and unrecorded. It examines the nature of the political succession to Park Chung-hee, the ever-present influence of Confucianism in South Korean society and the ideological agenda of university students in the 1970s and 1980s. The history of the Korean student movement's involvement in political affairs dates back at least to February 1919 and a demonstration staged in Tokyo by Korean students protesting against the annexation of Korea by Japan. However, its most dramatic achievement was in 1960 when the 'April 19 Student Revolution' brought down the government of Rhee Seung-man. Prior to Park Chung-hee's radical and rapid industrial development initiatives absolute male dominance in both the public and private spheres in Korean society was culturally embedded and unchallenged.
