[KS] U.S. involvement in the Gwangju Uprising

[Balazs Szalontai]

Let me suggest a somewhat different model of explanation. Instead simply juxtaposing Chun's de-regulatory economic policies with the demands of the democratic movement, one might draw up a triangular model, with Park Chung Hee's state-directed authoritarian modernization policy (particularly his massive post-1972 HCI drive) as the third pole. Gleysteen's telegrams clearly indicate that Chun's economic policies constituted a partial revision of Park's growth-centered, state-controlled, inflation-prone development model. To be sure, Professor Katsiaficas' presentation correctly places Chun's measures (and neo-liberalism in general) into the context of stagflation, a situation that emerged in South Korea in 1979-80. What may be added is that certain specific features of Park's post-1972 development model that distinguished South Korea from other NICs, such as the relatively high inflation rate and the state-controlled credit policy that favored the
 chaebols, seems to have played a significant role in that popular opposition in South Korea in 1978-80 became unusually intensive by NIC standards. In other words, it was not simply the dismantlement of the pre-1980 economic model that negatively affected the population and provoked opposition but also the previous model itself. 
 
All the best,
Balazs Szalontai


________________________________
From: "Katsiaficas, George" <katsiaficasg at wit.edu>
To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>; Balazs Szalontai <aoverl at yahoo.co.uk> 
Cc: "youngeunchae at yahoo.com" <youngeunchae at yahoo.com> 
Sent: Saturday, 26 November 2011, 23:35
Subject: Re: [KS] U.S. involvement in the Gwangju Uprising


A Power Point precisely on topic, is available at:
http://eroseffect.com/powerpoints/NeoliberalismGwangju.pdf

It takes time to open and can be saved to one's machine. A main argument, now fairly widely accepted in Korea, is that US insistence on the crushing of the Gwangju Uprising, like its support for the coup in Chile in 1973 and in Turkey later in 1980, was aimed at imposition of neoliberal economic policies. 

The Korean version is at:
http://eroseffect.com/korean/US_Gwangju.pdf

In addition, there are a number of articles in both languages on this website.

George




From: don kirk <kirkdon at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:03:49 -0800
To: Balazs Szalontai <aoverl at yahoo.co.uk>, Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Subject: Re: [KS] U.S. involvement in the Gwangju Uprising

<youngeunchae at yahoo.com> 
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