• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.1-28
• /
• 2018

This paper studies and evaluates the present situation of three decades of 'Minjoonojoundong' in Korea with a long-term perspectives. It had grown up during 1987 labour regime era and has declined abruptly since 1998. The backdrop of this decline was the transformation of labour regime from the 1987 regime to the dependent neoliberal one. The Korean labour movement did not respond to the changed structural conditions as it sustained its old strategies, militant unionism. Now the 'Minjoonojoundong' in Korea has met three difficult problems that are connected with each others. They are militant economism, political economism and formal industrial unionism. However the 'Candlelight Revolution' occurred in 2016 winter has opened a chance of regime change that could strengthen the 'Minjoonojoundong'. The revolution was primarily a political one. But it also created a dramatic situation change in labour politics. The candle-citizen demanded radical change of the polarized Korean society and overflown contingent workers. So it is a time of radical and overall innovation for the 'Minjoonojoundong' and KCTU. And they have to keep the long-term strategical vision of labour regime change.

• Korean Journal of Labor Studies
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.1-28
• /
• 2018

Now labour policy of Moon Jae-in Administration is very different from the labour reform politics of the past ages in its structural conditions. Especially the difference is in the fact that the new labour policy is originated from the Candlelight Revolution in 2016 which has resisted to the 20years-long neoliberal domination. This kind of change in the political situation made a optimistic prediction with regard to the possibility of successful labour reform. However the future is in many points so uncertain that we could not confirm the success of labour reform at all. The uncertainty always resides in the structural unbalance between labour movement power and capitalist state power bloc in Korea. In this sense strategical orientation and practices of the democratic labour movement(KCTU) are very critical to produce some positive outcomes.

• Korean Journal of Legislative Studies
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.5-36
• /
• 2017

"The Candle Revolution" impeached the Park government and elected the Moon government. The candlelight protesters demonstrated public anger associated with accumulated corruption and deep-rooted irregularities. Complete political reform is required to perform deep fundamental reform. It aims to transform democracy in a way that is more inclusive. Inclusive democracy contributes to making welfare state stronger. Inclusive democracy is made possible by proportional representation that allows progressive parties more seats and leverages. Proportional representation systems are characterized by higher degrees of redistribution and larger welfare state. Constitutional reform has to be focused on introducing parliamentary government. "Imperialistic" presidential system in Korea has no mechanism of checks and balances which are key characteristics of presidential systems. It has failed to attend the poverty and social inequality arising from globalization and neoliberal change since 2000s. Parliamentary government is supposed to deliver social policy when parties are more disciplined than in presidential system where political parties remain weak.

• 사회경제평론
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.55-92
• /
• 2018

Moon Jae-In government, which took power through the candlelight revolution, has put forward a "People First Economy". To realize this goal, the government promised to increase the growth rate of fiscal spending and the proportion of welfare spending compared to the conservative government in the past. This direction is desirable, but it does not meet the expectations of the progressive camp, which has hoped larger-scale welfare through active increased taxation. Above all, it would be hard to overcome the structural risks facing our economy through this policy. More bold fiscal policy is needed. For the time being, it is desirable to push for taxing on top-income households, corporations, and high-value assets, and to make sure that the tax levied on rental income is well established. If these tasks are well realized, it is necessary to move toward the next stage of welfare expansion and increased taxation.

• Journal of Korean Philosophical Society
• /
• no.119
• /
• pp.1-33
• /
• 2017

This article explore the relation between meritocracy and democracy in the context of South-Korea's confucian modernity. It starts with the confirmation that South-Korea's confucian-meritocratic tradition has positive influence on democracy, in similar way as in the western countries where meritocracy was as a basis for democracy evaluated. But meritocracy has not always the positive implication for democracy. This article shows that meritocracy is in its essence 'an ideology of the betrayal' which destroy the basis of democracy through producing and justifying extreme socio-economic inequalities between citizens. But the long confucian-meritocratic tradition of East Asia makes meritocracy ideology attractive for the people, so even the temptation of the 'political meritocracy' is strong, as we see in Singapore and China. This article argues that the political meritocracy cannot be the alternative of democracy, seeks the different way to overcome the crisis of democracy than meritocracy indicate. Finally, it discusses shortly which implications this sort of relation between meritocracy and democracy for the future of South-Korean democracy can have.

• (The)Korea Educational Review
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.81-114
• /
• 2018

This study was conducted to review the educational reform of the Moon Jae-In government, to analyze the its issues, and to suggest the tasks for the successful reform at the time since the government of Moon Jae-In was launched just over a year old. To attain the aim, we first examine the characteristics of the Moon Jae-In government, who emerged as a candlelight revolution, and what it means in terms of educational politics perspective. Under this background, this study examined the direction, contents, and implementation method of education reform policy of the Moon Jae-In government. And the study discussed what are the major issues raised in the direction and contents, implementation method of education reform, and what are the future challenges for resolving such issues. In conclusion, based on the discussions of the issues and tasks of the education policy, in order to implement the new educational system in the future, the Moon Jae-In government should take into consideration the discourses related to vision and direction, educational policy to embody them. The results of this study are expected to give an opportunity to examine the direction, content and implementation of policy in the early stage of the government.