Korean modernization and peasant mobilization in the 1960s and 1970s

Kim Chang Jin ()
Additional contact information
Kim Chang Jin: Sungkonghoe University

Russian Peasant Studies, 2020, vol. 5, 109-130

Abstract: In the contemporary world history, rural communities and small producers did not nat- urally disappear due to the loss of economic competitiveness, but were artificially con- strained and destroyed by the state laws, institutions, and policies. South Korea, which is considered a representative success case of the late capitalist industrialization after the World War II, can be an important example to examine the relevance of this challenging perspective. Korea’s economic success was largely determined by the NACF (National Agricultural Cooperatives Federation) lack of integrity: it was to be a voluntary and autonomous organization of farmers, but became a subordinate partner of the agri- cultural policy of the military government. The Saemaul (New Country) Movement developed by the government to promote rural innovations actually accelerated the decline of agriculture for it was used to control farmers. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Korean rural society was deeply dependent on the state power. At the same time, the farmers resistance developed as a reaction to the military government policies, and the NACF became the target of the farmers collective resistance movement. Thus, under the Park Chung Hee’s regime, Korean farmers were to participate in the national economy and become a part of the mandatory social-economic movement; however, they never man- aged to achieve a true class/collective political representation.

Keywords: Korean modernization; peasant mobilization; Park Chung Hee’s regime; NACF; Saemaul Movement; peasant movement; state power; autonomous modernization power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://repec.ranepa.ru/rnp/rupeas/rps2020.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rnp:rupeas:rps2020

Access Statistics for this article

Russian Peasant Studies is currently edited by Alexander Nikulin

More articles in Russian Peasant Studies from Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by RANEPA maintainer ().