The Activites of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in South Korea

The FES began its work in South Korea in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the office was closed due to the tightening of the dictatorship under Park Chung-Hee. In the mid-1980s, FES resumed its cooperation activities by opening an office again.

Since the 1960s, South Korea has experienced an unprecedented development from an agricultural country into a high-tech industrialised one, only made possible because of the strong planning hand of the state (“developmental dictatorship”). People’s resistance grew, however, with the increasingly repressive character of the dictatorships. They were able to successfully obtain democracy in the 1980s. Since 1987, democratically elected presidents have governed the country. But disenchantment with politics and political parties has also increased in South Korea in recent years. At the same time, an extraordinarily lively civil society commitment has developed with non-governmental organisations, exerting quite a decisive influence in shaping public opinion.

North Korea had already been industrialized during the Japanese colonial era and was economically superior to the South up to the 1970s. The country suffered its biggest setback with the collapse of Comecon 20 years ago, as it concluded almost its entire foreign trade with Comecon (especially exporting machinery in exchange for oil as well as basic food). Alternatives on the global market were not easy to find, as in the case of East European countries. In addition, North Korea has become subject to a more and more wide-ranging sanctions regime, for which it has to be partially blamed itself, though,

Kim Dae-Jung (1998-2003) and Roh Moo-Hyun (2003-08) were those presidents who were the most committed to advance democracy, freedom and social reforms in South Korea. Particularly concerning the area of social policy, much remains to be done, however. In that field, South Korea lags far behind European standards, as for example in the social state share. Improving social security schemes thus enjoys high priority. In doing so, South Korea does not face an easy task, one reason being one of the world’s lowest birth rates.

As far as foreign policy is concerned, the Cold War still continues on the Korean peninsula. Suffering from a terrible war of unification, which moreover only ended with a ceasefire and not a peace treaty, is the special tragedy of this country.
The governments of Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-Hyun pursued a policy of détente and rapprochement towards the north, following the example set by Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr. Indeed, much had been achieved, e.g. two summits with Kim Jong-Il, the North Korean leader. Unfortunately, the partly very extensive agreements were not implemented in the end.

The project activities of FES Korea are focused on the following goals:

• Economic reforms
• Further development of regulatory framework data
• Improvement of appropriate process policies
• Development and refinement of social policy instruments
• Socio-political reforms
• Trade-unionist consultation and education
• Improvement of women’s role in trade unions, politics and society
• Development of appropriate policies within the framework of North-South détente in Korea

The FES cooperation takes place theme-oriented with different partners; among others trade unions, the Ministry of Unification, state research facilities, academic institutions, non-governmental organisations and think tanks.