Busan National University Professor O Mi-il Publishes 'History and Spirit of the Korean Cooperative Movement'

A Look into the Past and Future of the Korean Cooperative Movement
Beyond GDP-Centered Growth toward the “Prosperity of Degrowth”

Busan National University (President Choi Jae-won) announced on the 20th that Professor Oh Mi-il of Busan National University's Institute for Unified Korea has published the book The History and Spirit of the Korean Cooperative Movement (Seonin Publishing, February 17, 2025).

The newly published book The History and Spirit of the Korean Cooperative Movement is a study that begins from a critical perspective on the capitalist mode of production, which has become the norm and ethics of society and has dismantled communities as part of the economy within society.

The capitalist system faces external limits such as climate change, species extinction, and resource depletion, as well as internal limits caused by a unilinear and cumulative mode of production, which also affects the psychological structure of humans. This book starts from the viewpoint that, based on warnings about the sustainability of capitalism, we must move away from GDP-centered growth and seek the “prosperity of degrowth.”

The author organizes the history of cooperatives as one of the self-help alternatives responding to the economic and social crises caused by the capitalist system.

Spanning a total of 511 pages, the book is composed of the following sections: △ The Era and Spirit of the Cooperative Movement △ Introduction and Development of Cooperative Theory and Movement △ Cooperative Movement and the Construction of the New State △ Economic Reconstruction and the Credit Cooperative Movement △ Inflation and the Consumer Cooperative Movement △ Cooperative Finance and the Local Economy.

Part 1 describes the cooperative movement during the Japanese colonial period, which was carried out either as part of promoting Korean products against Japanese monopoly capital or for economic independence. After first analyzing the introduction and acceptance of cooperative theory, numerous cooperatives established during this period are classified and organized by their main actors, such as the cooperative movement faction, Christian faction, Cheondogyo faction, and labor-farmer organizations.

Part 2 examines the characteristics of cooperative theory during the construction of the new state, including debates over the reorganization of financial cooperatives from the Japanese colonial period and the abolition of the “principle of political neutrality.” It also looks into the competitive organization of cooperatives by various factions to seize political leadership, as well as their establishment routes and types.

Part 3 deals with the credit cooperative movement that began in the late 1950s for economic reconstruction after the devastation of the Korean War, while Part 4 covers the consumer cooperative movement developed as a self-help measure for household economies in response to severe inflation during the economic development of the 1960s and 1970s.

Part 5 explores the development of economic movements for the economic self-reliance of economic actors shattered after the 1998 foreign exchange crisis. It examines “social economy” as a response to the deepening disparities between countries and regions caused by economic globalization and social polarization, and introduces the local economic movement that practices “localization of the economy” as an alternative.

This book holds academic value in that there are few scholarly works on the history of the modern and contemporary Korean cooperative movement. It is also expected to be helpful to activists seeking economic alternatives through social solidarity by questioning market fundamentalism and consumerism, as well as to general citizens interested in ecological economics or alternative economies, as it records the practices and rise and fall of previous eras.

In particular, the Busan region was a stronghold of the cooperative movement, as in 1960 Sister Mary Gabriella and Kang Jeong-ryeol led the establishment of the Seongga Credit Cooperative, spreading the credit cooperative movement nationwide. In 1968, Jang Gi-ryeo organized the Cheongshipja Medical Insurance Cooperative, which later merged with the Busan Medical Cooperative and was reorganized into the Cheongshipja Medical Cooperative, becoming the origin of the national health insurance system.

Professor Oh said, “Moreover, in 1978, the Busan Yangseo Sales Cooperative was established centered on Jungbu Church, spreading book sales cooperatives nationwide. Cooperatives were even pointed to as the backbone of the Bu-Ma Democratic Uprising, making Busan a center of the cooperative movement. The publication of a scholarly book on the cooperative movement today, when the importance of the local economy is emphasized, is significant also in terms of regional economy and local movements pursuing alternative and social economies.”

Professor Oh Mi-il has previously been recognized for his prolific research achievements, including the selection of Studies on Modern Korean Capitalists as an excellent academic book by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2002, receiving the 14th Free Economy Publishing Culture Award hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries in 2003, selection of Capitalists of Modern Korea as an excellent academic book by the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, and selection of Gateway of Empire: Colonial Modernity in Port Cities as a Sejong Book (academic category) by the Korea Publication Culture Promotion Agency in 2018.

Cover of "The History and Spirit of the Times of the Korean Cooperative Movement" by Oh Mi-il, Professor at the Institute for Unification and Korean Studies, Pusan National University. Provided by Pusan National University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.