ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the vicissitudes of the Korean textile and garment industry during the decade of the 1970s, it would be a misconception to assume that this period marked the nadir in the fortunes of those who laboured in spinning, weaving, and clothing manufacture. Textile and garment workers have borne the brunt of colonial oppression, and have illustrated with the utmost clarity the typically tripartite segmentation of global capitalism into core, middle, and peripheral economies. For most South Koreans, Seoul represents much more than merely the capital city of their nation; the collective concept of Seoul being, in many ways, far removed from that of London held by the British, Washington by the Americans, or Beijing by the Chinese. The Peace Market was at the root of so many problems for Park Chung-hee in the 1970s because, from the very beginning of the decade, his opponents used it as a focus for anti-government protest.
