The state and industrial labor in South Korea

In recent years a growing awareness has emerged in the field of modern Korean studies of the role that the state has played in the dramatic economic growth and social transformation of South Korea. Increasingly, the literature has come to focus on specific strategies and policies through which the state has pursued such developmental goals as increased industrial production, social stability and enhanced national security. This essay seeks to contribute to that growing body of literature through examination of the political and economic consequences of state policies directed toward the industrial labor movement, particularly organized labor represented by the country's unions. Most studies have heretofore left out discussion of organized labor's role in and contribution to the Korean “economic miracle” and this study may shed some light onto why that has been the case.