Authoritarianism and Opposition in South Korea

As one of the most successful ’Newly Industrialized Countries’ and as the host for the 1988 Olympic Games, South Korea has become more and more important as a major international economic power. This development can be traced back through the struggles of the democratic movement against a military-based authoritarian regime which provided significant impetus for political change.

First published in 1989, Authoritarianism and Opposition in South Korea draws on unofficial opposition documents and the author’s own experiences as an opposition activist to provide a unique historical and political analysis of the development of opposition in the 1970s under the regime of President Park. This era, when authoritarianism was at its height, saw the first establishment of the patterns of behaviour and the alignments of both the authorities and the opposition.

Hak-Kyu Sohn is the former chairman of the Democratic Party and former governor of Gyeonggi Province, in South Korea. He holds a D. Phil. in politics from Oxford University and was the Director of the Christian Institute for the Study of Justice and Development (CISJD) in South Korea. His research interest is in how South Korea can be prepared for changes in international relations as well as for the fourth industrial revolution.