The South Korean Conscientious Objection Movement: Lessons in Nonviolence

Abstract There have been many studies on the principles and methods of nonviolent movements, especially in the West, but this area has received little attention in South Korea, which has a rich history of nonviolent movements. Since the recent South Korean conscientious objection movement has achieved significant results in introducing alternative service in a highly militarised society, I decided to conduct a study to apply the advice of Western research to the movement. The nonviolent principles, methods of organisation and strategies proposed by Western researchers have largely been applied to the South Korean movement. However, there were also differences in organisational methods and strategies. Recent Western organising conventions of mass mobilisation rather than structure-based organising were largely unavailable to the South Korean conscientious objection movement due to the radical nature of the issue. The nonviolent winning strategy of disruption-sacrifice-escalation was also not possible in the South Korean movement, which went for disruption-sacrifice-continuation, but escalation.