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Marginalization vs minoritization: expulsion by the state and flight of the masses1

It was during the late 1990s that the neoliberal restructuring of Korean society became apparent. The Korean government’s neoliberal wishes were something older, but it had lacked the power to carry out the restructuring. For instance, the government’s attempt to legalize layoffs failed in 1996, when it was faced with a massive general strike. The number of labour unions that participated in the strike was over 3,000 whilst that of participating workers reached 4 million. The winter of 1996 was a very hot season for Korean workers. However, as is well known, the winter of 1997 turned out to be completely different from that of 1996. It had been impossible for neoliberalism to lay down its roots in 1996, whereas in 1997 it was impossible to raise issues with neoliberalism. No one was allowed to question the neoliberal restructuring programme prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Every candidate who ran for presidency promised that he would abide by the IMF restructuring programme and anyone who talked about renegotiating the harsh conditions of the programme was labelled as a traitor. In retrospect, it is clear that the Korean power and capital that had sought neoliberal restructuring seized the ‘crisis’ as an ‘opportunity’. The economic crisis of 1997 destroyed the ruling party and some conglomerates, but it provided the new ruling party and the surviving business corporations with tremendous power and profits. The reward was much larger than what they had aimed at in the winter of 1996. By themselves, domestic power and capital failed to command the institution of neoliberalism, but, by free-riding on the orders of a transnational organization, they got everything they had wished for. Ten years have passed since then. Neoliberal restructuring is still an ongoing process in Korea. Perhaps, neoliberalism is something that can only be defined as an ongoing process. Restructuring is not a once-and-for-all prescription. It is, in fact, more accurate to say that constant restructuring has become a social structure. Crisis is not something that occurs once, at a turning point. People must now learn to live in perpetual crisis. People’s lives have changed dramatically in the past ten years.