Editing Minjung (section)

{{Short description|Korean word for "the people"}}
{{Italic title}}{{other uses}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More citations needed|date=October 2008}}
{{Original research|date=October 2008}}
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{{Infobox Korean name
| hangul=민중
| hanja={{linktext|民|衆}}
| rr=Minjung
| mr=Minjung
}}

'''''Minjung''''' ({{Korean|hangul=민중}}) is a [[Korean language|Korean]] word that combines the two [[hanja]] characters ''min'' ({{lang|ko|民}}) and ''jung'' ({{lang|ko|衆}}). ''Min'' is from ''inmin'' ({{Korean|hangul=인민|hanja=人民|labels=no}}), which may be translated as "the people", and ''jung'' is from ''daejung'' ({{Korean|hangul=대중|hanja=大衆|labels=no}}), which may be translated as "the public". Thus, ''minjung'' can be translated to mean "the masses" or "the people."

However, in the Korean political and cultural context, "the public" is not an adequate translation, and "the people" carries a [[communism|communist]] connotation that makes its use dangerous in anti-communist [[South Korea]]. Nonetheless, "the people" is close to what ''minjung'' seeks to convey, both sociologically and politically. For Koreans, ''minjung'' are those who are oppressed politically, exploited economically, marginalized sociologically, despised culturally, and condemned religiously. For example, the [[Minjung Party]] founded in October 2017.

Thus, the notion of ''minjung'' came to identify and inform the struggle for [[democracy]] in South Korea. In other words, the concept of minjung functions as a type of worldview that offers the categories in which social reality is organized and comprehended. One of the basic precepts of this worldview is that history should be understood from the point of view of the ''minjung'', or that the ''minjung'' are the subjects (and not victims) of history.

The idea of Minjung can be traced back to the late [[Joseon]] dynasty's [[Silhak]] movement through the works of [[Jeong Yak-yong]] and [[Yi Hwang]].<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7-SCzkMZgAC&pg=PR15 | title=Haan of Minjung Theology and Han of Han Philosophy| isbn=9780761818601| last1=Son| first1=Chang-Hee| year=2000| publisher=University Press of America}}</ref>