The 77 day stand-off between workers at the Ssangyong Motors plant and police ended on 5 August after police special units assaulted the roof, beating union members and arresting 96 of the strikers. Read more...

A heroic struggle by South Korean car workers has been viciously attacked by armed police and bosses’ thugs. But it has also ignited a wave of solidarity action, writes Simon Hardy Read more...

On 25 February South Korea’s new President, Kim Dae-jung, was sworn into office. In turn he promised Kim Jong-pil the job of Prime Minister, the same man who 17 years earlier headed the secret service agency that tried to kill him while in exile. This unlikely combination, writes Keith Harvey, is the best bet the Korean ruling class have of dealing with a major social and political crisis they will face during 1998. Read more...

The “Tiger Economies” of Asia are presented as proof of capitalism’s ability to develop the Third World. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, their high growth rates have been called the “second shock for Marxism”. Michael Pröbsting examines the unique circumstances which allowed rapid growth in South Korea and Taiwan, and explains the limits of this model of development. Read more...