Editing Minjung (section)

== Minjung movement ==
=== Labor movements ===
==== YH Company protest ====
In August 1979, around 200 young female workers at YH Trading Company protested the company's decision to close down. YH had become a huge wig exporting company during the 1960s; however, the company's position had significantly deteriorated by the end of the 1970s.

On August 7, 1979, YH Company closed down. The young women workers protested and fasted against the company's closure. The police got involved and forcefully removed the women from the building. During this violent action, one young worker was killed. Her death was significant and triggered many protest movements throughout South Korea. It may be considered one of the most important sparks of opposition towards President [[Park Chung Hee]] and the demise of his presidency.{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=378}}

=== Gwangju Democratization Movement ===
The Gwangju Democratization Movement, officially renamed the [[Gwangju Uprising]] in 1987, began on May 18, 1980. The citizens of Gwangju, seeking the abolition of martial law and the resignation of General [[Chun Doo-hwan]], initiated the movement. As General Chun Doo-hwan and the military tried to maintain martial law, students and some civilians came together to demonstrate their disapproval. On May 18, 200 male students tried to enter a school that was forced into closure by officials. During the attempt, the students were heavily injured. Seeing this, civilians decided to join in but were stopped by military forces. In the end, many civilians were injured and killed, thus starting the Gwangju Movement. On May 19, as the movement grew to 5000 civilians, the military brought in an armoured motorcar and marched in with guns wielding fixed-bayonets. On May 20, 200,000 civilians marched through the military force and stopped all communications systems in the city so the military would not bring in reinforcements. Thus, Gwangju was freed.

Chun Doo-hwan was the ROK army general and president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Chun started his coup by making himself head of the KCIA and keeping his position as head of the Defense Security of Command. Minjung gathered to the streets to protest and demonstrate their opinions about Chun's action. On May 17, 1980, Chun declared martial law to finalize his coup.{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=381}} Chun fired and arrested high officials and students who were opposed to his actions. On the next day, martial law was declared and about 500 people came together to Gwangju's streets to protest and demand the repeal of the martial law.{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=381}} "One woman student was pilloried near the town square, where a paratrooper attacked her breasts with a bayonet." The soldiers shot and killed people who kept protesting and refused to go home. Gwangju Rebellion is also called Gwangju massacre because of the number of casualties inflicted on the protesters. It is unclear how many people actually died in the Gwangju Rebellion, but one source indicates the number to be between 2,300 and 4,900 deaths in May 1980.<ref>Lost Victory: An Overview of the Korean People's Struggle for Democracy in 1987. Edited by Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development. Seoul: Minjungsa, 1988.</ref>

As a result of this chaos, Chun took it upon himself to isolate about 37,000 journalists, students, teachers, labor organizers, and civil servants in condemned and confined camps up in the mountain areas to promote "a time of cleansing their minds and spirits." Chun was not willing to let these movements go without making it very clear that he was not going to tolerate this. He said he was setting up these boot camps for those "who would see the error of their ways after lots of push-ups, marathon running, small-group criticism and self-criticism, and ideological exhortation."{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=384}}

=== World-wide democratization ===
The 1980s marked a worldwide spark of democratization. The decline of the Soviet Union Bloc led to the breakdown of European Communist regimes in 1989. The Polish Solidarity Movement is one example of major revolutions during the 1980s. Much of dictatorships in Latin America also collapsed. In Philippines, the ousting of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the subsequent "yellow revolution" led the way to democratization. These circumstances worldwide bear resemblance with the fall of the Chun regime, and the revolutions are akin to the Gwangju incident (albeit the discrepancies in human casualties).{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=391}} Scholar Samuel P. Huntington referred to this period as the "Third Wave" of Democratization.<ref>See Huntington, Samuel P. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1991. Print.</ref>

=== Anti-American sentiments ===
The United States' supposed involvement in the [[Gwangju Uprising|Gwangju Democratization Struggle]] triggered the rapid spread of [[anti-Americanism]] sentiments. The protesters were expecting Americans to intervene for their side. Instead, the Twentieth Division of the [[ROK Army]] was sent to the area in response to the uprising. Although many Koreans, and especially those who had favored or participated in the movement, blamed the U.S. Government for "releasing" these troops from their duties near the DMZ, the American general in charge of defending against North Korean (DPRK) attack had no idea that they were going to be moved. He was awakened by a late-night telephone call by the ROK president, informing him that the Twentieth had been removed from their positions along the DMZ—thus creating a huge gap in the defensive line in the event of large-scale infiltration from the North—and sent south to Gwangju. Nevertheless, because the U.S. Command was nominally in control of joint forces, the urban legend persists that the United States was responsible for the forcible repression of the uprising by military means. Because of this, the US took a portion of the blame:

:<small>There may not have been an alternative to turning a cold shoulder to the citizens of Gwangju... But American operational control under the United States-South Korean Combined Forces Command made U.S. responsibility inescapable, and the release of frontline troops made hash of Carter's human rights policies; the United States paid dearly for both in Korean attitudes thereafter.</small>{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=382}}

Initially, before Gwangju, there were negative attitudes towards the United States growing because of their support of Chun Doo-hwan. But Gwangju really catalyzed the Anti-Americanism among Koreans.

=== Student protests ===
During the presidential election in March 1960, [[Syngman Rhee]] sought out a fourth term. Considering his age of eighty-five, there was serious concern for Rhee's health and his future fulfillment of leadership within the Liberal Party. Therefore, in order to maintain power, the Liberal Party gained the desire to win at all costs. The Liberal Party did end up winning the election; Syngman Rhee and Yi Kibung (Vice President) officially won. However, the election process was corrupted. The "ballot boxes had been stuffed with votes for the government candidates even before the voting took place."{{sfn|Ch'oe|Lee|de Bary|2001|p=393}} In reaction to the Liberal Party's rigged victory, the outraged citizens and students of all ages protested through street demonstrations. As a declaration indicting the government's abuse of power, on April 19, 1960, Yi Sujong expressed: "We want to plant the seeds of reason, truth, freedom, and the spirit of the university in the barren soil of our country."<ref name="ReferenceB">[''Hanguk hyondae myong nonsol chip'' (A supplement to Sin Tonga monthly, January 1972), p. 305]</ref> Through the protest, the students became a power of influence among the people of Korea. Although the South Korean government had claimed to be a "democratic" nation, its actions did not display the exercise of democracy. The students sparked a vital movement in South Korea. These protests are evidence of students understanding of their own power and capabilities to influence the nation. Students were fervent in their search for their own rights because they learned from history. A middle schooler by the name of Kim Chu-yol in a sense became a symbol of the sacrifice for freedom.{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=392}} They needed to fight for their rights just like their fathers. "Look at the torch of freedom that we are now raising! Listen, in these hours of darkness, as we proudly toll the bell of freedom, just as our fathers and elder brothers did under the iron yoke of the Japanese imperialist".<ref name="ReferenceB"/> This was a new type of movement to which Korea was not accustomed which would be a key instrument in allowing students to begin to voice their opinions and fight for their rights.

=== Normalization Treaty protest ===
In the 1960s, Park Chung Hee saw normalization of relations with Japan as a way to gain start-up capital for industrial development. Mass demonstrations ensued against the signing of the normalization treaty. Demonstrators were met with military force in 1964, but in 1965, the treaty was ratified.{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=392}}

=== Importance of the church ===
Following the model of [[Liberation Theology]] established in the [[Latin American]] states, the Korean Catholic church became a haven for those opposing Park Chung Hee's policies.{{sfn|Cumings|2005|p=376}} This was largely due to governmental agencies', particularly the KCIA, reluctance to use military force against the church. The issues of democratization and evangelism were conflated, and some church leaders went so far as to lead protests against the authoritarian regime. The Minjung movement utilized theological arguments to support and legitimize the move towards a more democratic state.<ref name=Ro>Ro, Kee Hyang(1993). ''[http://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/822/ The American social gospel and Korean Minjung theology look at labor: A comparison]'' (M.A. thesis) Wilfrid Laurier University</ref> The model of Liberation Theology was viable in Korea due to the relatively high percentage of Koreans who practiced Christianity. (In 2005, approximately 1/3 of the Korean population claimed to be practicing Christians<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kostat.go.kr/eboard_faq/BoardAction.do?method=view&board_id=106&seq=120&num=120 |title=요청하신 Url을 찾을 수 없습니다 |access-date=2010-06-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723051717/http://kostat.go.kr/eboard_faq/BoardAction.do?method=view&board_id=106&seq=120&num=120 |archive-date=2011-07-23 }}</ref>). The church provided a unique haven for anti-authoritarian dissent to develop.