The History of South Korea, 1945–1987

This chapter explains the flow of modern Korean political history by looking at events beginning with the 1948 election and ending with the 1987 democratization process. The historical events before 1987 can be largely divided into four periods: the period of the First Republic; the period of the Second Republic and the Park Chung-hee administration; the period of the Yusin regime; and the period of the Gwangju Uprising, new military leaders, and the Democratization Uprising in 1987. The purpose of this chapter is to show the macro-flow of modern Korean politics through historical events, focusing on the causal relationships explaining each regime change by describing the characteristics and tendencies of each regime. The events and changes explain how the structure of conflict in modern Korean politics changed from democratization versus authoritarian forces to progressive versus conservative forces and show where the pro-democratization tendency of Korean politics began.

The Oxford Handbook of South Korean Politics

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online. For more information, please read the site FAQs.

State, Society and Markets in North Korea

Under Kim Jong-un, North Korea has experienced growing economic markets, an emerging 'nouveau riche,' and modest levels of urban development. To what extent is North Korean politics and society changing? How has the growth of markets transformed state-society relations? This Element evaluates the shifting relationship between state, society, and markets in a deeply authoritarian context. If the regime implements controlled economic measures, extracts rent, and subsumes the market economy into its ideology, the state will likely retain strong authoritarian control. Conversely, if it fails to incorporate markets into its legitimating message, as private actors build informal trust networks, share information, and collude with state bureaucrats, more fundamental changes in state-society relations are in order. By opening the 'black box' of North Korea, this Element reveals how the country manages to teeter forward, and where its domestic future may lie.

Stalinism in North Korea

North Korea never went through a process of de-Stalinization. It remained until 1994 under the control of a despot who arranged for the despotism to continue after his death. Thus, North Korean politics became a family dynasty that continues to this day, with Stalinist political controls and a confrontational posture toward South Korea and the United States.