Counter-Hegemonic Resistance and Framing of the Anti.KORUS FTA Protests in South Korea

• Published in: Asian perspective pp. 707 - 725
• Main Author: Shin Ae Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 극동문제연구소 01.12.2023
• Subjects: 정치외교학
• ISSN: 0258-9184; 2288-2871

This study analyzes the framing of protests against the Korea.United States Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), arguably one of the most significant and contentious contemporary movement events that occurred in South Korea. The anti-KORUS FTA protests have drawn the largest public, committed to challenging the hegemonic rhetoric of the Korean government’s neoliberal policy initiatives, by asserting the trade deal as posing various social and economic ills to human life. Drawing on the combined framework of Gramscian analysis and the framing perspective, this study highlights the ways in which the anti-KORUS FTA protest activism exercises power by disseminating alternative discourse against the existing political condition. By examining a broad range of data, the study identifies three specific counter-hegemonic framings of collective action used by local civil society organizations to delegitimize the official discourse.‘neoliberalism as the problem,’ ‘public accountability,’ and ‘national independence.’ KCI Citation Count: 0