Seoul-California Series in Korean Studies, 4. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. xi, 260 pp. US$29.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-9845909-6-4.
Drawing on insights from the social movement, democratic politics and international relations literature, Katherine Moon delivers a well-researched, richly nuanced study of South Korean activism in post-democratic South Korea, and anti-US protests in particular. Moon argues against a standard line of argument that the wave of anti-American sentiment which swept across South Korea in the 2000s was a manifestation of South Korean national identity, nationalism or a generational gap. Instead, she argues that the process of democratic consolidation, and especially decentralization which granted newfound powers to local governments, created new opportunities for South Koreans at the local and national level to contest US-South Korea alliance-related issues. Moon relies on a wealth of evidence from in-depth interviews with activists, NGO staff, local officials, US military personnel, and South Korean and US elites to substantiate her claims.
Following the book’s introduction, Moon devotes an entire chapter to challenging the idea that anti-Americanism in South Korea is driven primarily by Korean nationalism. As Moon writes, “I emphasize that Korean nationalism – elusive and habituated – is a static, overused, and underspecified explanation for diverse political phenomena” (28). To Moon’s credit, even while dismissing the nationalist narrative of South Korean anti-Americanism, she still manages to present an insightful overview and analysis of the complexity of Korean nationalism within a historical framework. The section on youth and generational change, however, was a bit cumbersome, with Moon describing polling and survey data across several pages to make her point that “the generational gap is not an adequate explanation” (57).
Chapter 2 presents the book’s main argument about the effects of democratization and government decentralization on South Korean activism, anti-US base protests, and the US-South Korean alliance. In essence, democratization and the process of decentralization empowered local residents who in the past had little recourse for action to address long-held grievances against the US military and central government. Moon observes that the opening of political opportunities at the local level created a new dynamic for local-central government relations in the politics of US bases.
Chapter 3 illustrates how decentralization in the 1990s helped unleash civil societal activity at the local and national level, giving attention to anti-US base movements and the coalition movement to revise the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in particular. Moon’s research shines in this chapter as she unveils the complex, internal dynamics confronting variegated actors within anti-base movements. Her analysis contrasts the often monolithic portrayal of anti-base movements by the media as anti-American protestors motivated by youthful passion and strong nationalism. The tension between activists rooted in the earlier minjung movement of the authoritarian era and more moderate simin groups which developed during the democratic consolidation period is particularly noteworthy. This theme continues in the following chapter on transnational activism. International solidarity with environmental, women and peace groups in the Philippines, Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States enabled some South Korean anti-base activists to “jettison the old frame of Korean nationalism and anti-Americanism and adopt new values and activist aspirations” (168).
In the final chapter before the book’s conclusion, Moon uses her extensive knowledge of the kiji ch’on undong (military camp town movement) to illustrate inequalities within South Korean civil society. Democratization and decentralization have provided ordinary citizens greater access to political power on the whole, but not necessarily equal opportunities and rights across civil societal organizations. An interesting comparison between the mobilization of kiji ch’on women and comfort womenhighlights how issues of gender and morality intersect with civil society politics, creating winners and losers in the struggle for rights.
Protesting America is a must read for anyone interested in understanding civil society in post-democratic South Korea. However, the book is not without its flaws. The book lacks a coherent theoretical framework which links government decentralization to any clear outcome beyond greater political opportunity for local actors to participate in base politics. At times, the author makes the bolder claim that decentralization opened the door for the type of widespread anti-US protests taking place in the 2000s, in turn recasting the narrative on US-South Korea relations and producing shifts in basing policy. But such claims require making several causal leaps linking decentralization to alliance politics which are never fully explicated in the book.
Moreover, the idea that decentralization has significantly recast power dynamics such that “the central government no longer has a monopoly over foreign policy and national security” (70) may be overstated. At face value, Moon’s statement is correct. Since democratization, civil society has played a larger role in US-South Korean relations. Moon includes specific examples where social movements mattered, such as the closure of Camp Market and the inclusion of a separate environmental clause in the revised SOFA in 2001. However, the central government continues to assert a near monopoly on national security issues, a point often lamented by anti-base activists themselves. Residents and activists opposed to military base expansion and construction in Pyeongtaek and Jeju Island, respectively, have witnessed firsthand the brute force used by the central government to maintain its foreign policy and national security objectives. Meanwhile, support from the city and provincial government has been ambivalent at best. By highlighting positive examples and avoiding discussion of such negative cases, Moon’s decentralization thesis ends up resting on somewhat weaker ground.
Nevertheless, Protesting America brings a refreshingly new perspective to anti-US protests and US-South Korea relations. In addition to its contribution to our understanding of Korean politics, Moon’s interdisciplinary approach demonstrates how social movement approaches and careful attention towards local politics shed new light on issues often addressed from the lens of international relations.
Andrew Yeo
Catholic University of America, Washington DC, USA
pp. 343-345