Sabuk Uprising (1980)

The Sabuk Uprising of 1980 was a strike turned uprising in South Korea in 1980 that was almost successful until betrayed by the government, part of a global wave of democratic unrest at the time. It also happened a few weeks before the much more famous uprising in the city of Kwangju.

Background

The coal-mining town of Sabuk (which produced 11% of South Korea's coal in 1980) in South Korea was brutally poor, low wages, poor working conditions for miners and poor living standards (many houses did not have warm water) and high prices for food at company stores meant that people were angry. The local trade union did not do anything to increase workers rights, until the national miners union pushed for a 42% increase in wages, the coal miners offered to increase wages by 20%, but workers in Sabuk were not happy.

Angered by the economic conditions and lack of democracy in the unions and South Korea as a whole (then a military dictatorship) the workers demanding a meeting with the bosses. When they refused to show, they occupied the office and were soon attacked by the police who were armed with rifles. Protesters fought back and pushed them out of the town, stealing weapons from the police station and explosives from the mine. The town was completely independent for free days, as the government agreed not to punish the striking workers and a 42% wage increase in exchange for the workers surrendering their weapons.

Results

After the workers gave up their weapons, the government instantly betrayed them and did not live up to their demands, torturing many of the key activists.

References

(Source is in Korean language) - http://hadream.com/xe/history/42507?ckattempt=3