South Korea's triumphant development has catapulted the country's economy to the eleventh largest in the world. Large family-owned conglomerates, or chaebols, such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG, have become globally preeminent manufacturing brands. Yet Korea's highly disciplined, technologically competent skilled workers who built these brands have become known only for their successful labor-union militancy, which in recent decades has been criticized as collective "selfishness" that has allowed them to prosper at the expense of other workers. Hyung-A Kim tells the story of Korea's first generation of skilled workers in the heavy and chemical industries sector, following their dramatic transition from 1970s-era "industrial warriors" to labor-union militant "Goliat Warriors," and ultimately to a "labor aristocracy" with guaranteed job security, superior wages, and even job inheritance for their children. By contrast, millions of Korea's non-regular employees, especially young people, struggle in precarious and insecure employment. This richly documented account demonstrates that industrial workers' most enduring goal has been their own economic advancement, not a wider socialist revolution, and shows how these individuals' paths embody the consequences of rapid development.

Based on personal interviews with the principal policy-makers of the 1970s, Korea's Development under Park Chung-Hee examines how the president sought to develop South Korea into an independent, autonomous sovereign state both economically and militarily. Kim provides a new narrative in the complex task of exploring the paradoxical nature and effects of Korea's rapid development which maintains that any judgement of Park must consider his achievements in the socio-economic, cultural and political context in which they took place. Aspects of Park's government analyzed include: *his abhorrence of Korea's reliance on the US presence *the Korean model of state-guided industrialization *Park's rapid development strategy *the role of the ruling elites *Park's clandestine nuclear development program *the heavy chemical industrialisation of the 1970s The prevailing popularity of Park in the eyes of the Korean public is significant and relevant to their acceptance of how their national development was achieved. This book tells that story while simultaneously recognizing the flaws in the process. With a great deal of material never before published, scholars of Korean politics and history at all levels will find this book a stimulating account of South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s.

Contents:
Part One: Road to Military Revolution
1. Park: A Colonized Soldier
2. The Eve of the Military Coup: Intellectual Debate on National Reconstruction
Part Two: Military Rule and Nation Building
3. The Military Junta: A Quest for Legitimacy and Control
4. The Leap Forward: Alliance with the US
5. Global Change: The Nation in Transition, 1968-1972
Part Three: From Top-Down Rural Development to Yusin Reform
6. Saemaul Movement: From Top-Down Rural Development to Yusin Reform
7. The Yusin State
8. Presidential Guidance and Heavy and Chemical Industrialization
9. The Military Modernization, 1974-1979
Conclusion: The Legacy of the Park Era 355

South Korea's triumphant development has catapulted the country's economy to the eleventh largest in the world. Large family-owned conglomerates, or chaebols, such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG, have become globally preeminent manufacturing brands. Yet Korea's highly disciplined, technologically competent skilled workers who built these brands have become known only for their successful labor-union militancy, which in recent decades has been criticized as collective "selfishness" that has allowed them to prosper at the expense of other workers. Hyung-A Kim tells the story of Korea's first generation of skilled workers in the heavy and chemical industries sector, following their dramatic transition from 1970s-era "industrial warriors" to labor-union militant "Goliat Warriors," and ultimately to a "labor aristocracy" with guaranteed job security, superior wages, and even job inheritance for their children. By contrast, millions of Korea's non-regular employees, especially young people, struggle in precarious and insecure employment. This richly documented account demonstrates that industrial workers' most enduring goal has been their own economic advancement, not a wider socialist revolution, and shows how these individuals' paths embody the consequences of rapid development.

The Republic of Korea achieved a double revolution in the second half of the twentieth century. In just over three decades, South Korea transformed itself from an underdeveloped, agrarian country into an affluent, industrialized one. At the same time, democracy replaced a long series of military authoritarian regimes. These historic changes began under President Park Chung Hee, who seized power through a military coup in 1961 and ruled South Korea until his assassination on October 26, 1979. While the state's dominant role in South Korea's rapid industrialization is widely accepted, the degree to which Park was personally responsible for changing the national character remains hotly debated. This book examines the rationale and ideals behind Park's philosophy of national development in order to evaluate the degree to which the national character and moral values were reconstructed.

Hyung-A Kim is associate professor of Korean politics at the Australian National University, and author of "Korea's Development under Park Chung Hee: Rapid Industrialization, 1961-1979." Clark W. Sorensen is director of the Center for Korean Studies, University of Washington, and author of "Over the Mountains Are Mountains: Korean Peasant Households and Their Adaptations to Rapid Industrialization." The other contributors are Myung-Koo Kang, Young-Jak Kim, Tadashi Kimiya, Hagen Koo, Gaven McCormack, Nak-Ch'ong Paik, James B. Palais, and Seok-Man Yoon.

The Republic of Korea achieved a double revolution in the second half of the twentieth century. In just over three decades, South Korea transformed itself from an underdeveloped, agrarian country into an affluent, industrialized one. At the same time, democracy replaced a long series of military authoritarian regimes. These historic changes began under President Park Chung Hee, who seized power through a military coup in 1961 and ruled South Korea until his assassination on October 26, 1979. While the state's dominant role in South Korea's rapid industrialization is widely accepted, the degree to which Park was personally responsible for changing the national character remains hotly debated. This book examines the rationale and ideals behind Park's philosophy of national development in order to evaluate the degree to which the national character and moral values were reconstructed.