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This article examines how the combination of immature welfare state and expansion of the service economy, in particular, contributes to the precariousness of the elderly labour market in South Korea where nearly half of the elderly live below the poverty line. It completes an empirical analysis of how elderly workers in Korea are participating in the labour market and examines their situation using a conceptualisation of "precariousness." It is explained how the elderly in an immature welfare state are pushed into bad jobs resulting in a large number of precarious "elderly workers" in an economically advanced country. Results of the statistical analysis suggest that, due to severe precariousness, the Korean elderly are unable to escape from poverty even though they work. Also, gender segregation of precariousness in the service industry has been exacerbated in the elderly labour market. Structural change such as the rapid transition to a service-oriented economy has a greater impact on elderly women than middle aged or elderly men because elderly women tend to have lower skill levels and shorter careers, mainly entering service occupations where the bad jobs are concentrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the rise of “sky protest,” a new form of labour resistance in Korea, by focusing on three major labour struggles at Hanjin Heavy Industry, Ssangyong Motors, and Hyundai Motors. Through a close examination of these instances of labour contention, this study argues that the rise to this new form of labour unrest is associated with deepening chasms in neo-liberalised Korean society, such as the division between globalising capital and immobile labour, the division between regular and non-regular workers within the labour market, and the division between the represented and the unrepresented by political institutions and collective organisations. This article ultimately argues that these multiple and severe divisions within Korean society pose a serious strain on its democratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explains the neo-liberal reform measures - foreign direct investment (FDI) policies, financialisation and labour market reform - of the Korean economy following the 1998 economic crisis. It investigates how they have influenced a process identified as the bipolarisation of Korea. Although the increase in FDI inflows has contributed to the economy by overcoming balance of payments difficulties, it has led to increased income inequality. As a result of labour market reforms that targeted labour market flexibility, the number of non-regular/non-standard and part-time workers has increased significantly over the past decade. Labour market reform and financialisation aggravated the bipolarisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes the process of financial liberalization in South Korea from the perspective of financial globalization through an international political economic approach. Causes of the financial crisis in the country; Efficiency of the allocation of global capital; Development of an international capital market.

Analyzes the role of Confucianism and nationalism in the state-sponsored ideology of work in South Korea during its economic boom in the 1960s and 1970s. Importance of workers' voluntary participation in industrial work and harmony in the workplace in the development of the country's economy; Examination of the ways in which ideas about work in South Korea have incorporated nationalist ideals and Confucianism.

Analyzes the nature of economic governance in South Korea. Determination of the pattern of dominance of largescale production by analysis of size dispersion; Influence of Korean capitalism on the occurrence of economic turmoil; Use of vertical integration and horizontal predation as economic strategies; Economic evolution from agrarian economy to industrial economy.

Discusses the changing relationships between the state and the chaebol throughout economic liberalization and political democratization in Korea. Strengths and limitations of the state-centered approaches; Rise of the neo-liberal economists who drove the liberalization program; Decline of the developmental state.