The progressive Christian church and democracy in South Korea

Journal of Church and State, Spring, 1998 by Chang Yun-Shik

Collectively, the UIM and the JOC made it their practice to investigate industrial disputes. They produced reports that were made available to a wider public. They sent letters to the Office of Labor Administration protesting its inaction or delayed action in obtaining benefits for industrial workers. They organized numerous symposia to discuss the content of new labor legislation and opposed intended revisions of labor law which they judged to be anti-democratic and depriving workers of basic labor rights. They exposed poor labor conditions and worker suffering, as well as corruption and government indifference to industrial workers' problems or management-controlled union leadership. UIM workers arrested or expelled for their involvement in labor conflicts received both financial and legal assistance with their cases. Both the UIM and the JOC held prayer meetings and pep rallies to boost workers' morale during disputes.(40) More importantly, they helped their own trainees and others in organizing factory unions, sit-ins, and petitions. UIM ministries and JOC offices provided shelters to workers who were expelled from factories due to their activism.

Though small in number--at any given time, the number of UIM ministers never exceeded twenty-five--and geographically confined to certain areas, the UIM was responsible for producing a large number of labor activists. The most important labor disputes in the 1970s were organized by people who had been trained by either UIM or JOC members. Workers associated with the UIM later played an important role in initiating union movements at workplaces without unions or with company-dominated unions (known as oyong unions).(41) In the 1960s (i.e., before the adoption of the Yushin constitution), both UIM and JOC members worked closely with the national industrial union in helping workers form unions. But in the 1970s, with the promulgation of national emergency decrees, they continued these activities on their own in place of industrial unions and did what industrial unions would normally do.

By the mid-1970s, the government was fully aware that with the help of dissident clergymen, workers could be organized into a formidable force capable of challenging government authority and demanding changes in government policy. There is no denying that the labor dispute that spread all over the nation in the summer of 1988 was a testament to successful church efforts in arousing the underprivileged. Government officials were also aware that the UIM and the JOC could always appeal to the people whenever necessary. Whatever actions these two dissident groups took immediately drew the attention of the police and intelligence agencies--a clear indication of the success and strength of such a movement.

Another Protestantant organization, the Christian Academy, also played a significant role in the labor movement. From 1974 on, the Academy provided an educational program to company union representatives. The Christian Academy did not directly join workers in their disputes with the company or the government; its program consisted primarily of leadership training in the form of lectures, dramas, candle rites, and singing labor songs. All of these activities were mainly designed to enhance the laborers' awareness of their rights, thereby democratizing unions at the enterprise level.(42)