Exam 2 Flashcards
4.19 (60)
Bloody Tuesday. Major historical moment. Culmination of student protests to end Rhee’s presidency. Rhee says militia should fire upon them, many students are killed (around 186). Fueled by the rigged election held in March. Martial law was imposed.
Rhee officialls resigns after US pressures him into it, professors protest with the students. Starts the 1960 Revolution, starts a theme of pushing for Democracy in SK
5.16 (61)
After Rhee resiged, a democratic government was put in place. It lasted only a year and struggled to fill Rhee’s autocratic power vacuum.
Leads to the 5.16 military coup by Park to seize the presidency after Rhee resigned. strong anti-communist stance, the start of Park’s presidency which would gradually grow more totalitarian.
5.18 (80)
Gwangju.
Presidents!
Syngman Rhee (put in place by usa)
Park Chung-Hee (military coup, economy)
Chun Doo-Hwan (gwangju, economy)
Rho Tae-Woo (handpicked successor, 8-point plan)
Kim Young-Sam (segyehwa, clean-gov’t campaigns, IMF)
Kim Dae-Jung (dealing with IMF, sunshine policy, neoliberalism)
segyehwa
korea’s unique was of phomoting enhancement. Integration of globalization and internationalization, presenting korean industries to be world class and bringing those goods to other countries.
8-point plan
rho tae-woo, declaration where he promises fair presidential elections (would have cracked down but the olympics were coming, and the US didn’t want a gwangju repeat)
June 1987
democratic struggle that happens in june! pro-democracy movement that generates mass protest, a response to Rho’s appointment and sparked by the grievous injury of a student (Lee Han-Yeol) during protest preparations on the 9th. Protests set off on the 10th.
Creates the sixth republic, which is still the system in Korea today.
yushin era
park chung-hee, authoritarian regime. New constitution with several key changes, including
No elections
Power to dissolve national assumbly
No more term limits for prez
Can appoint all members of constitutional committee/court
Power to appoint up to 1/3rd of national assembly
strengthened anti-communist legislation
minjung, undongkwan
minjung: the intellectuals who participated in the SK democratization movement in 70s and 80s, they wanted presidential elections
THREE MINS:
nat’l reunification, liberation of people, achievement of democracy
undongkwan: the people who lead the minjung movment. coined by Namhee Lee, who argues that they are a counter-public sphere that bring unpublic issues into the public sphere –> they change nationalism historiography
NSL
started in 1948, purpose to secure the state by suppressing domestic/foreign orgs that are anti-government/critique the government.
anti-communism law
- behavior or speeches in favor of NK can be punished by the NSL. anti-communism becomes the national policy, any opposition movements can be punished by the military gov’t. If you know somebody who’s active and don’t report them, you can also be targeted. creates a culture of fear.
OKA
legally defines who is an is not korean –> CREATES a new category of visa!! creates a quasi-citizenship status and privileges a certain type of foreigner in SK. not full citizenship. targets economically prosperous usa and japan, but isolates formed societ states. HAVE TO PROVE A SK FATHER.
vietnam war
sk’s involvement made it into a subempire, since sk was able to create heavy industry and support the war effort. vietnam is a frontier for SK enterprise (construction, transportation, steel)
korean subempire
started in vietnam war. vietnam was the frontier for emerging SK industry, inclding construction, steel, and transport. SK could not be on the same level as the USA, and was still secondary to it, but SK was now above Vietnam. So SK wasn’t a big boy empire, it was rather a subempire of the USA that acts as military procurers for the US in Vietnam.
IMF crisis
1997, Young-Sam to DJ. financial crisis, total economic meltdown with mass layoffs that also create a social crisis. while trying to resolve, DJ gets a bailout package from the IMF in echange for restructuring Korea’s economic sector.
as a result korea enters an era of the neo-liberal economy.
neoliberalism
economic policy that favors private enterprise and wants to shift the control of the eonomy from the government to the private sector. free market capitalism, trying to create competition among private companies to get more wealth and innovation overall.
adopted by SK after the IMF crisis, where the IMF would give SK a bailout package if they totally restructured their economic sector.
ROK-Japan Normalization Treaty
- established normal diplomatic relations between SK and Japan in the post-colonial, post-war era. japan pays money to SK as a reparation fee. however it doesn’t settle claims against Japan for crimes against humanity or war crimes, and remains contentious today. Did japan do enough? Did they pay enough? Is this something we can even assign a monetary value to?
‘multicultural’ policy
goal: address the abuses against mixed-race koreans, the alienation of mixed children, eliminate social discrimination, seek changes to citizenship laws, multicultural education in schools, etc.
approach: assimilate people to as ‘korean’ as possible. mary lee –> ethno-racial homogeneity are important to SK’s nation building.
trying to assimilate via language and cooking. citizenship dependent on whether or not they have children, since children can protect them from certain abuses.
sunshine policy
SK approach to foreign policy with NK. engaging with NK based on concepts of nonaggression, exchange, and cooperation. no armed provocation will be tolerated but the South won’t actively attempt to absorb the north and the South actively seeks cooperation. leads to DJ getting the nobel peace prize (deserved) <3
camptown (gijichon) economy
Korean War meant long-term stationing of US troops in SK. There are US military bases, and SK camptowns emerge around them since they are a hub of economic activity. service sector –> food, alcohol, grocery stores, other silly little things.
prostitution is a really big part of this (not a silly little thing), way to make money from the troops.
when the US leaves, camptowns collapse since their clientele is gone. they also create a power imbalance. and beyond that, the prostitution leads to a long-standing stereotype that asian women are sexually ‘available.’
Seo Brothers/Espionage Cases
zainichi (koreans in japan) who went to visit NK. they were in NK for a few days to visit, then went to SK. they were persecuted under the NSL, espionage forces abused their pwoer, and the brothers were incarcerated for just shy of twenty years.
the brothers were stateless, which adds a new level.
PANOPTICON POLICIES
martial law(s)
4.19 martial law imposed by Rhee, who is using the military to suppress student protests against his presidency.
5.18 martial law in Gwangju as a response to protests against Chun. protestors demand that it’s lifted but it’s not.
Jeolla Province
rice basket of SK. Gwnagju is located here. this is Kim DJ’s power base, he’s from here. very vocal activist province, known for causing a stir and protesting. also historically underdeveloped (partly because not close to Seoul, partly as punishment for protesting)
urban industrialization vs. rural underdevelopment
the area from Seoul to Busan is generally industrialized and urban, since Seoul is the big city in SK and provided the greatest economic opportunity. Busan is a big port city. Seoul is the HQ for economics, education, politics, and business, so it’s very developed.
however, the other areas of SK that aren’t in that line are generally underveloped. possibly unintentional since Park and Chun were most focused on building economy and would pour money into the biggest successes (Seoul and Busan) but it’s potentially also revenge, like in the case of Jeolla.
Also since all the young people leave for Seoul, of course there’s underdevelopment. all of their new thinkers are leaving
Seungsook Moon, Regulating Desire
Moon argues that sex work was systematically regulated by the gov’t. It’s because you need an ID card to be a sex worker, and in order to keep it, you have to routinely go to the doctor and be checked for VD.
no ID = you go to the monkey house to be detained.
hegemonic masculinity; aka, the ‘dominant’ masculinity. man is family provider, male mandatory military serice, male distance from domestic repsonsibility all causing levels of privilege. MASCULINITY DEFINED BY EARNING POWER
Prostitution was essential to maintaining USA empire.
Doolan, transpacific camptowns
by the 70s SK women on the street as percieved as sexually available. this is a result of sex workers in SK camptowns surrounding US military bases in the Korean War era.
Clandestine sex work comes to the US military bases as the gov’t pulls out of SK, emergency of mandatory VD checks
charles kim, april 19th generation
4.19 is an incomplete revolution, it’s interrelated with 5.16. They generated and were generated by widespread perceptions of historical transition from colonial past to postcolonial rule. from bloody tuesday (rhee) to the military coup (park), want to move away from the colonial past.
nora kim, forgotten refugees
vietnam was and SK nationbuilding. Vietman lets SK transform into an economic subempire, placing USA above SK, and SK above Vietnam. SK says that’s the benevolent protected of refugees, but it’s cultural amnecia – ethnic homogeneity myth is maintained, allowing SK to ignore historical guilt/responsibility for mistreatment of refugees.
good vs. bad asians
ethnic diversity was selectively erased to preserve the preferred Sk narrative – that ethnic diversity began bc of 1990s globalization.
Namhee Lee, Making of Minjung
minjung are the participants and they are lead by the undongkwan. their goal: create an alternative democratic space since it is not being provided by the state. they create narratives of the past and bring attention to the undiscussed past; they imagine themselves as the true subjects of history. the real subjects of history are the masses, not the rulers.
argues that the movement was a project to reevaluate history, since they rectify the public memory of Jeju, KW, 4.19, 5.18, etc.
Not seen as martyrs until Kim Young-Sam.
Jung/Chang, the OKA
- Certain groups are legally included as quasicitizens of the SK state, while other groups become legal outsiders.
created a new kind of visa. contention over the criteria that define ‘korea’ and the legitimacy of who’s making these decisions.
trying to build the globalized SK nation-state. leads to labor force disputes since majority of laborers are Chinese-Korean.
Sung Kyung Kim, Refugee
1953-89 – defector, hero
90s – ethnic k, refugee
2000s+ – economic migrant
‘arrivals’ from the NK have been interpreted differently in the post-cold war era. SK ID is formed in relation to others, aka; NK – SK defines ID as ‘not NK’ but when NK citizens are naturalized as SK citizens, then SK is forced to re-evaluate its identity, hence the changing terms.
NK’s are liminal; never NK, never SK, but instead something else.
Yoonkyung Lee, Insecure Class
In the neoliberal economy, younger people adjust quickly but the old do not. people who cannot effectively transition to the new economy (lower income self employed, irregular workers) become a core part of the labor market.
increasing growth in sense of job insecurity, little prospects for promotion or social mobility.
insecurity compounded by high housing costs and Seoul as the center of everything; outer regions struggle as younger gens leave for Seoul.
Park, To build a nation
claims that the previous gov’t was corrupt and inept and nearly handed SK over to the communist North.
goal: eradicate poverty, anti-communism a core part of SK identity and policy, economic development, family planning.
temporary suppression of politial activity to get the new gov’t on its feet. 5-year plan to create a self-supporting industrial economy
Gov’t is adjusting existing systems to help accumulate private capital
emergency decree #9
park, attempting to stifle opposition. make it illegal to oppose the gov’t. according to this one (May 1975), any critique of the gov’t is criminalized.
purposefully vague so it could be employed against anybody and everybody.
jailtime of ‘no less than one year’ so you could be imprisoned for a very long time, achieves its result, Korean media caves under the pressure and the opposition loses its voice.
letter to ford
written by mothers whose students are serving long prison terms as political prisoners for demonstrating democratically against the Park dictatorship.
emphasize the students’ democratic actions, their adherence to Christianity and Jesus Christ. Scared that the visit will perpetuate the authoritarian regime.
Kim DJ, “my country”
- reflects on national reunification, says to have democracy you must have free press and elections. you only get a secure nation when the people have something worth defending.
the economy is preoccupied solely with growth, which leads to crippling rural debt and uneven development
martyrdom
Kim DJ, “Inaugural”
1998, during financial meltdown.
collusion between banks and gov’t causes the crisis. we need a small, effective gov’t, we need to promote competititon.
education reform, the middle class is the heart of the nation, and national security is independent collective security –> we have to try for reunification.
Fight for Democracy
documentary that chronicled Gwangju. highlights the Jeolla region and Kim DJ, since it’s his power base and he was constantly fighting for democracy in SK.
shows the brutality of Chun’s suppression on 5.18, we can see that Chun is reviled.
interview with Kim DJ about his involvement.
