Chun Soonok - They Are Not Machines: Korean Women Workers and their Fight for Democratic Trade Unionism in the 1970s

The multi-faceted tensions created in developing countries between a burgeoning popular desire for democracy and the harsh imperatives of modernisation and industrialisation are nowhere more evident than in the so-called 'Asian tiger 'nations. Of all those nascent economies, South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s stands preeminent for the magnitude and speed of its development and the extraordinarily oppressive and inhumane conditions that its labour force, mainly women and young girls, were compelled to endure. The author of this book was one of those young girls who suffered in the warren of sweat-shop garment factories in the slums of central Seoul.

With little or no support from male co-workers, and despite their political naivety and the traditionally subordinate status of Korean females, the women textile and garment workers confronted the ruling authority at all levels. The author's mother was one of their leaders, and her eldest brother sacrificed his life for their cause. Despite appalling state-directed violence, betrayal by erstwhile colleagues, the chicanery and mendacity of employers' cooperatives and countless other setbacks, these uneducated and overworked women finally succeeded in forming the first fully democratic trade union in the history of Korea. Based on compelling personal accounts this is the first published account of the women's struggle, and it throws much light on the process of modernisation and industrialisation in Korea and beyond.

Korean Women Workers and their Fight for Democratic Trade Unionism in the 1970s

Chun Soonok
Sungkonghoe University, South Korea

First published 2003 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2017 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright Chun Soonok 2003

Chun Soonok has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Soonok, Chun
They are not machines: Korean women workers and their
fight for democratic trade unionism in the 1970s
1.Women textile workers - Korea (South) - History - 20th
century 2. Women employees - Labor unions - Korea (South)
History - 20th century 3.Textile workers - Labor unions
Korea (South) - History - 20th century 4.Industrial
relations - Korea (South) - History - 20th century 5.Labor
union democracy - Korea (South) - History - 20th century
I. Title
331.8'8187'082'095195

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Soonok, Chun, 1954
They are not machines: Korean women workers and their fight for democratic trade
unionism in the 1970s / Chun Soonok.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-3545-7
1. Women in the labor movement--Korea (South)--History--20th century. 2. Labor
unions--Korea (South)--History--20th century. 3. Industrial relations--Korea
(South)--History--20th century. I. Title.
HD6079.2.K6S66 2003
331.4'78'09519509047--dc21
2003048922

ISBN 13: 978-0-7546-3545-1 (hbk)

No coherent analysis of the development globally of post-colonial capitalism and its impact upon social justice and human rights would be complete without a study of South Korea under the authoritarian and arbitrary rule of the Park Chung-hee regime, 1961-1979. An essential component of such a study is an understanding of the dynamics of the patterns of opposition generated by the socio-political implications of the regime's obsession with economic growth and its disdain for equitable distribution. Opposition to Park's oppressive and inhumane stewardship required great courage and fortitude, and the true number of innocent people who participated in that opposition and who, by so doing, became victims of his cynical application of ideological terror, will never be known. What is known, however, is that many of those brave and determined individuals were women; and nowhere was their sacrifice more evident than in the textile and garment industry. Indeed, it was as a direct result of the actions of female garment workers that the administration, and the life, of Park Chung-hee was brought to an abrupt and violent end.

Due, at least in part, to the scarcity of authoritative studies on the subject, the full magnitude of the contribution made by Korean women to the process of democratisation in South Korea has not been afforded the credit that it rightfully merits. In short, this means that as far as women are concerned the recorded history of modern Korea has, until now, been unbalanced and incomplete. The new book by Dr Chun Soonok sets out to rectify this historiographical inadequacy and, by combining four crucial qualities, it succeeds admirably. First, the author's personal and deeply felt commitment to the cause of working people is clearly apparent throughout the work. Second, and in mitigation of the potentially deleterious consequence of that allegiance, the facts and events portrayed in the study have been researched with scholarly thoroughness, and all the evidential material made available to the author, much of it previously unpublished, has been analysed with scrupulous impartiality. Third, by dint of Dr Chun's unique access to many of the seminal figures intrinsic to the democratic trade union movement of the 1960s and 1970s she has managed to give prominence to personality and, thereby, reinforce to great effect her belief in the importance of biography in the unfolding of human history. Finally, in its detailed description of the daily lives of tens of thousands of Korean girls and young women, and the extraordinary suffering they had to endure in order to regain their dignity and self-respect, this book highlights in the most lucid and accessible way the human cost of unbridled capitalism. It is recommended reading to all who have an interest in democracy, in liberty and in freedom.

Sohn Hak-kyu
Member of the National Assembly
Republic of Korea

Until relatively recently world historiography has been characterised by a propensity to misrepresent or, more commonly, totally ignore the contributions made by women to the advancement of human society. Nowhere has this aberration been more apparent than in the case of Korean garment workers and their fight for democracy during the 1970s. Despite abject poverty and appalling working conditions; circumstances imposed by brutal and unfeeling employers and sanctioned by an authoritarian and exploitative regime, thousands of women and young girls eventually triumphed in their struggle for recognition. Their courage, their determination, and their tenacity have served as beacons of hope and encouragement for oppressed women workers in every part of the globe. Yet for more than twenty years their story has remained hidden and their achievements unrecognised.