Ebook: South Korea's Minjung Movement: The Culture and Politics of Dissidence

The minjung (people's) movement stood at the forefront of the June 1987 nationwide tide that swept away the military in South Korea and opened up space for relatively democratic politics, a more responsible economy, and new directions in culture. This volume is the first in English to grapple specifically with the nature of a national development that lies at the center of the last three decades of tumult and change in South Korea.

This volume is the first in English to grapple specifically with the nature of a national development that lies at the center of the last three decades of tumult and change in South Korea. Written by Korean and Western experts in the fields of literature, anthropology, sociology, and history, its eleven chapters explore the nature, impact, and implications of the diverse forms taken by this important and many-faceted movement. Including as it does contributions from leaders of the minjung movement - such as Professors Kang Man-gil and Paik Nak-chung, whose writings appear here in English for the first time - this book furnishes the fascinating insights into the struggle. This intelligently argued and informative book is required reading for specialists in modern Korean studies as well as for anyone wishing to understand from the inside the recent dramatic developments in South Korea.