IMFs Restructuring, Development Strategy, And Labor Realignment in South Korea

Abstract

This study addresses the impact of the changing nature of the development strategy of the state on labor. It is concerned with the political economy of market-oriented structural reform on the labor. The paper is composed of three sections. The first part provides an overview of basic characteristics of the development strategy during the last three decades that have been responsible for both the economic boom and the economic crisis in South Korea. Part Two examines the new character of state-capital-labor relationship in terms of the neo-liberal restructuring of the current regime and the characteristics of South Korean labor, with special attention to the Tripartite Commission. The final part predicts a new industrial relationship based on the characteristics of three players in industrial relationship: government, management and labor, specifically based on their intentions and capacities.