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South Korea Society under Rhee
The transformation of South Korean society during the Rhee
era was of revolutionary proportions because of the convergence
of a number of forces. A major impetus for social change was the
greatly enhanced opportunity for education. Although Japan had
introduced a modern education system to Korea, opportunities for
Koreans were purposely limited, particularly at the secondary and
university levels. Educational opportunities were greatly
expanded immediately after the Japanese defeat, and the trend
continued through the Korean War and afterwards. Higher education
provided more opportunities for upward mobility to a large number
of young people. This opening also meant greater political
awakening among the young, particularly in view of the strong
emphasis placed on democratic values and ideas by teachers and
intellectuals. For the first time, Korean youths were provided
open access to democratic ideas both at school and through the
mass media. These Western ideas became the norm against which to
judge the government in power when the exigencies of the war
period were removed.
A land reform law enacted in June 1949 also had a leveling
effect on Korean society. Under this law, nearly 1 million
sharecroppers, or approximately 40 percent of total farm
households, became small landowners. The reform also brought
about the decline of the landlord class that had formed the
backbone of traditional Korean society for centuries. Because big
business and industrial groups did not emerge until the late
1950s and early 1960s, almost everyone in society was placed on
an equal footing.
The Korean War had the most significant effect on the social
system. The movement of large armies up and down the length of
the peninsula was accompanied by civilian refugees. People of
diverse backgrounds intermingled for prolonged periods, deeply
affecting everyone's way of life. The indiscriminate destruction
of property during the war also had the effect of homogenizing
Korean society.
The war caused hundreds of thousands of young men from rural
areas to enlist in the army, exposing them to modern
organization, technologies, and a new world outlook. The war also
gave rise to a large officer corps that later developed into an
increasingly significant social group.
Better education and the government's postwar economic
policies contributed to accelerated urbanization. Reconstruction
projects created jobs in the cities, while the government's
effort to control the prices of farm products made it
unprofitable to till small farm plots. The urban population
increased rapidly from 11.6 percent in 1940 to 24.4 percent in
1955 and 28.3 percent in 1960. These changes had a direct impact
on politics because the better-educated and urbanized elements
became increasingly vocal and more independent in their political
judgments.
Data as of June 1990
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