(The following is a post by Elli Kim, Korean reference librarian in the Asian Division)
When reflecting on South Korea’s most notable achievements, one often considers its remarkable economic development—commonly referred to as the “Miracle on the Han River”—and the Korean Wave (Hallyu), which has brought various facets of Korean culture, including cuisine, dramas, films, and music to the cutting-edge of global culture. But an even more significant accomplishment is that South Korea distinguished itself as one of the few newly independent countries to successfully transition to a parliamentary democracy in 1987. After four decades of authoritarian rule, South Korea’s shift to democracy in 1987 was the culmination of a resilient struggle since the April Revolution of 1960.
Central to this movement was the concept of the minjung (民衆 “common people”) as a driving force for historical progress toward democracy in South Korea. While representing a broader alliance of students, intellectuals, religious leaders, workers, and politicians, minjung became the embodiment of the counterhegemonic resistance against authoritarian regimes. Thus, the South Korean democratization movement is synonymously referred to as the minjung movement.

Within the Library of Congress, the Asian Division’s Korean collection holds unique materials related to the Minjuhwa Undong South Korean Democratization Movement (SKDM). Of particular interest is a grouping of posters from the 1980s that are invaluable historical artifacts from this period of the minjung movement. These posters not only played a pivotal role in amplifying collective action of that era, but they also offer rare insights into how the movement’s agenda, objectives, and strategies unfolded within South Korea’s complex geopolitical landscape during the Cold War.
This blog post will delve into the role of the undongkwŏn (“counterhegemonic force”)—those who were the creators of these posters—and explore the key issues they addressed, including minjung, minjok (民族 “ethnic-nation”), anti-Americanism, class conflict, and the pursuit of unification during the democratization movement in the 1980s.
Undongkwŏn, the Creators of the Minjuhwa Undong Posters

During the zenith of South Korea’s democratization movement in 1986-87, numerous minjuhwa undong posters were displayed in public spaces to inform and mobilize citizens, despite the military regime’s strict surveillance. These posters were primarily produced by the undongkwŏn (運動圈, literary meaning “sphere of the movement”), which means those who were leaders and participants in the democratization movement. While students, intellectuals, and dissident politicians had been leading the democratization efforts since the April Revolution of 1960, it was in the 1980s that the term undongkwŏn gained a specific connotation referring to the practitioners of the movement. Historian Namhee Lee defined the undongkwŏn as a “counterhegemonic sphere,” emphasizing their role in leading and fighting against authoritarian regimes. The posters in the SKDM collection visually capture how the undongkwŏn articulated their objectives of democratization and communicated with the broader social groups.
Kwangju Uprising
Ideological Divergence in the Undongkwŏn
This discourse not only shaped the ideological landscape, but it also set different objectives and strategies of the democratization movement. By the late 1980s, two distinctive groups among others in the undongkwŏn came to the forefront: National Liberation (NL) and People’s Democracy (PD). The NL group prioritized national liberation and the reunification of the Korean peninsula, understanding the division of Korea as the principal contradiction stemming from South Korea’s semi-colonial status under U.S. imperialism. Anti-Americanism was widely embraced in the movement. Eventually, the NL movement divided into the Chuch’esa sangp’a (主體思想派, abbr. Chusap’a) group, which officially embraced North Korea’s Chuch’e ideology, and the non-Chusap’a group, which distanced itself from Chuch’e ideology. The NL group actively focused on the unification movement, often adopting 1948 as a symbolic starting year for their reunification aspirations.
In contrast, the PD group, inspired by global Marxist-Leninist movements, perceived South Korea as a fully capitalist society and prioritized class struggle against global capitalism as the fundamental task. This divergence in priorities—national liberation versus class struggle—led to distinct strategies within the democratization movement, with each group’s ideological vision shaping their unique approaches toward achieving democracy.
Taejabo (Big-Character Posters)
Minjung Art
For instance, the poster on the right above depicts what looks like two farmers or workers from North and South Korea intertwined to break the barbed wire fence—a symbol of the division of the peninsula. This woodblock print expresses the aspiration for reunification. The poster on the left illustrates a person wearing traditional Korean clothing and a mask, dancing with flags advocating unification, evoking the spirit of traditional Korean performance. These posters consolidated national identity and solidarity of the minjung by combining artistic expression with the Minjung Art movement.
Conclusion
In an era of media restrictions and censorship, democratization movement posters functioned as a powerful grassroots medium. They helped consolidate the ideas and objectives of democratization movements. The posters in the SKDM collection offer an intriguing way to understand how the undongkwŏn addressed their agenda and spread its objectives to the minjung.
The Minjuhwa Undong collection is part of the Korean Rare Book Collection and can be accessed in accordance with the Asian Reading Room’s rare book policy. For reference inquiries or appointments, please contact Korean reference staff via the Ask a Librarian service. For more details about this collection as a whole, please consult this research guide dedicated to materials on the South Korean Democratization Movement.
Further Reading
Cho, Hŭi-yŏn and Pak Hyŏn-ch’ae. Hanʼguk sahoe kusŏngchʻe nonjaeng. 4 vols. Sŏul Tʻŭkpyŏlsi: Chuksan, 1989.
Lee, Namhee. The Making of Minjung: Democracy and the Politics of Representation in South Korea. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007.
Park, Sunyoung, ed. Revisiting Minjung: New Perspectives on the Cultural History of 1980s South Korea. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Sŏ, Yu-ri. It’al kwa pyŏni ŭi misul: 1980-yŏndae minjung misul ŭi yŏksa. Seoul: Somyŏng Ch’ulp’an, 2022.
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