Abstract:
This paper re-evaluates the meaning of the resistance of female laborers in the Dongil textile factory, focusing on the developing awareness of their rights as laborers in society. What happened in the factory in late 1970s was notorious for the violent suppression of its labor movement, the female workers’ naked demonstration and poop? terror. This kind of authorized terror illustrates have difficult it was to form a labor union with freedom and independence and to operate as a ‘Democratic Union’ under the Park Chung-hee government which drove export-led economic development while retaining its anti-labor policy. Intellectual awareness and knowledge development of female laborers was achieved through the combined activities of a small group of labor unions and a missionary labor organization. In this context, this paper examines some implications and issues of knowledge development in the labor movement in relation to the liberation of oppressed people.
