What we must overcome now is the '88 system'!

Leaving Seoul, the theater city created by the Seoul Olympics
The Challenge of Sociology in a New Era

The 1988 Seoul Olympics were not just a simple sports event.
The Seoul Olympics were called the culmination of the 3S policy of the final days of the military dictatorship, a state-led project to enhance national prestige, and, above all, an image-making effort to "enter the ranks of advanced nations."
However, this book goes beyond that familiar narrative and proposes a new perspective: viewing the Seoul Olympics as a gigantic "performance" that influenced the formation of society, and Seoul as a "theater city."

"1988 Seoul, the Birth of a Theater City" is a book written by sociologist Park Hae-nam (assistant professor of sociology at Keimyung University) that meticulously explores the social and historical background of the Seoul Olympics, the preparation process, and the social changes that followed.
The author diagnoses that the Seoul Olympics was a huge project that aimed to achieve the socio-political goals of ‘reforming the people’s customs’ and ‘reforming the urban landscape.’
The military regime sought to train citizens to be "healthy and diligent actors" and to present the city as a "plausible stage set" to the world.

In fact, the Seoul Olympics ended successfully, and Korea seemed to have taken the lead in the post-Cold War era and globalization through the Olympics.
However, the author diagnoses that as a result, Seoul was reconstructed as a theater city where ostentation and production were the norm, internalizing the gaze of 'foreigners', and thus a social order based on 'performance contracts', or the '88 system', was fully established.
Under the 1988 regime, citizens were no longer subjects with rights, but actors who had to always look good in the eyes of others, and the entire city became a stage for a dazzling spectacle.
In this book, the author points out that the 1988 regime is the vacuum left by the '87 regime', that is, the regime after democratization, and one of the sources of the social conflict we face today.

“How can we transform performance contracts into social contracts?” This question, which runs through this book, makes us reflect on the turning point of our times.
The landscape of conflict and division, which has become even more pronounced since the winter of 2024, reveals the fundamental vulnerability of "Theatre City Seoul."
It is time to confront the void left behind by the glamorous stage and to find new imagination to break away from a society where discrimination and exclusion are commonplace.
This book will serve as a solid starting point for those seeking to move beyond the current stagnation since democratization.

“My problem awareness started here.
Because I began my study of sociology by looking at normal life as something unfamiliar, I began to question the way such a life is created.
In the West, the "social" was formed through discourse and practice aimed at preventing class conflict and poverty, and on this basis, "society" or normal life was created.
(…) On the other hand, Korean society appeared to be one that did not have a proper social safety net.
Despite this, why did a "normal" life path emerge in Korean society? In other words, what allowed a society to emerge in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula between the 1950s and 2020s? Could it be that something uniquely Korean, though distinct from the West, emerged? What caught my attention here was the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Because I thought that was the moment when I created the appearance of a normal life.”
--- 「Preface.
In search of the moment when the ghost of a 'normal life' appears

“I believe that the process of preparing for the Seoul Olympics was a process of mobilizing all members of society, assigning them roles, and training them to perform skillfully.
In other words, it was a training process that made the daily lives of not only those who participated in the actual performance process, such as the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, but also everyone who lives with the Olympics, into a performance.
In this way, the Olympics can be seen as an attempt by the producers to introduce 'order' into society.
In this extension, the Olympic directors sought to make the capital city of Seoul a space that embodies the order they wished to create and a model that demonstrates their excellence.
In other words, it transformed Seoul into a theater for spectacular performances.”
--- 「Introduction.
From "When the City Becomes a Theater: The 1988 Seoul Olympics and the Politics of Performance"

“The soldiers defined social evils through ‘performance,’ which can be translated as action or acting.
When we say that the situation in which actors on the stage of the city skillfully perform according to the script and the performance proceeds smoothly is called 'normal social order', social evil refers to those who disrupt the performance by not following the script and those who show such performances.
The performance ban that occurred in Korean society in the mid-20th century can be interpreted, from an individual's perspective, as the result of a continuous external shock that began with colonial rule, mobilization for war, the end of colonial rule, the conflict between the left and right, and finally the Korean War.
But the soldiers didn't take this situation into account at all.
All that mattered to them was that the stage where the epic of development was supposed to be performed was occupied by social evils, and that their actions were interfering with the performance.”
--- 「Chapter 1.
From "Soldiers Become Directors"

“In 1910, Korea became a colony.
However, this did not dampen the desire of Koreans to show the world their modernized body through sports.
(…) By the 1930s, the intellectuals’ aspiration to create world-class actors through sports had become a reality.
Even though it was a way of wearing the Japanese flag on one's chest.
(…) The soldiers also inherited the dream of producing actors who could stand on the international stage through sports.
The soldiers viewed the athletes' performances on the international stage as a preview of the developmental epic they were attempting to enact.
They gave sportspeople the task of ‘promoting national prestige,’ which was a four-letter phrase that meant that athletes had to become actors who stood at the center of the international stage.”
--- Chapter 2.
From “Developing Nation, Dreaming of Spectacle”

“Since 1981, there has been a very big change in the visual Leviathan.
From the perspective of the military directors, the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics were mega-events that would make Asians and the world an audience for performances by Koreans.
Therefore, the eyes of Argos could not be formed solely by the eyes of members of the civil society mobilized by the soldiers.
No, the 'true' eyes of Argos were the eyes of the world that would witness the spectacle of the Asian Games and the Olympics.
Rather, the controlled civil society was like a thousand eyes or hands on the body of Argos.
Now that the eyes of the world or 'foreigners' have become important, we have to adapt to their perspectives.
So the soldiers decided that they had to 'normalize' the 'abnormality' of things like the impassability of traffic at midnight to fit the world's perspective.
They sought to maintain a system of surveillance and discipline by reminding Korean society that the world, as spectators of the spectacle of the Asian Games and the Olympics, would become the new watchdogs.”
--- 「Chapter 3.
From "New Military Government Takes the Megaphone"

“Their assessment was that post-war Tokyo was a place of poverty, disorder, and a lack of hope and purpose.
Just like the soldiers in Seoul in 1961 and in 1980, Tokyo directors also viewed post-war Tokyo as a space where performances had ceased.
If we interpret post-war Tokyo as a space of suspended performances, the meaning of the ray of light shining on youth also becomes clear.
This meant putting young Japanese people on stage and shining a light on them, and training them as actors who would perform according to a script.
The two goals were interconnected: to change Japan's image internationally and to revive the performing arts and social dramas that had been suspended domestically.
The performance that the Tokyo directors had in mind in 1952 might have been a narrative that led from war to peace.
However, the performances planned by the directors after the decision to hold the event in 1959 had a narrative that led from defeat to revival, or to the completion of modernization that had been interrupted by defeat.
That is why the directors placed great importance on showing the modernized nation of Japan and the modern city of Tokyo through the Olympics.”
--- 「Chapter 4.
From "The Show Must Go On"

“More important than this was the power of the world and foreigners.
As the soldiers reshaped the foreign body as the subject of their gaze during the Olympics, the world and foreigners themselves were transformed into the figure of Leviathan.
“The soldiers have continued to monitor, discipline, confine, and exhibit members of society, and now they are doing so under the pretext of hosting the Olympics for the world and foreigners to see,” he added.
--- 「Chapter 5.
From "Rewriting the Script"

“In reality, those who were mobilized as actors for the seven years since 1981 to prepare for the Olympics did not only live their daily lives under surveillance.
This period was like watching a kind of 'musical' over and over again.
Members of Korean society have repeatedly seen the dynamic movement of sports and repeatedly heard wholesome songs that sing of Korea's development.
In the 1980s, it was called the 3S (Sport, Screen, Sex) and was evaluated as a means of public ignorance or depoliticization.
However, the Seoul Olympics and the entire process of preparing for them can be interpreted more colorfully when viewed as a spectacle that aimed to guide the leisure behavior of Korean society amidst urbanization and industrialization.”
--- Chapter 6.
From "Making Actors"

“This presented the challenge to Seoul’s directors to create a spectacular landscape from a space that could be filmed.
Because it was clear that these spaces would be broadcast around the world via television.
Even if the stadiums that had already been built were like that, the area around the stadium as seen from the sky had to change, and the Olympic Park where the new stadium would be built had to change even more.
And the Seoul landscape that would be revealed through the marathon had to be different from before.
In terms of theater, these spaces were the front of the stage.
It was the space that stood out the most to the audience.
Two projects were initiated amidst this need.
One was to design Olympic Park to look better than Jamsil, which is just a collection of stadiums, and the other was to transform the Han River, which can be captured on video anywhere in the Seoul sky, including the sky above Jamsil Main Stadium.”
--- Chapter 7.
From "Making the Stage"

“Some people have raised their voices saying that both the stage and the production should change.
He argued that the Constitution is above the Olympics, and that the poor also have a right to the stage of the city, and that Leviathan's absolute power should not be exercised to push someone off the stage for a plausible performance, but to ensure that no one is left off the stage and can create their own performance.
For example, in 1985, the Korean Church Social Mission Council published a pamphlet depicting Hodori riding a bulldozer and saying, “All citizens have dignity and value as human beings and the right to pursue happiness.
The full text of Article 10 of the Constitution states, “The State has the duty to confirm and guarantee the fundamental and inviolable human rights of individuals.”
The council also asserted that “the government has a duty to provide us with solutions” for the 32 redevelopment projects planned for the Olympics.
--- Chapter 8.
From "Voices Resound"

“The agenda of the Joint Olympics spread beyond university students to civil society as a whole starting in May 1988.
On May 11, civil society leaders including Ham Seok-heon and Moon Ik-hwan proposed joint hosting of the Olympics between Seoul and Pyongyang.
On May 15, before committing suicide at Myeongdong Cathedral, Seoul National University student Cho Seong-man wrote in his suicide note, “No matter what happens, the Olympics must be a foundation for national reconciliation and unification through the participation of South and North Korea,” which also spread public opinion.
On May 18, three opposition party leaders (Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung, and Kim Jong-pil) announced that the Olympics “should demonstrate the nation’s strength and serve as an opportunity for the unification of a divided nation.”
Of the three, Kim Dae-jung was the only one who supported the idea of ​​joint hosting.
“On May 19th, the ‘Buddhist Headquarters for the Promotion of National Reconciliation and Joint Olympics’ was launched, on the 21st, Protestant pastors issued a statement calling for a joint Olympics, and on the 28th, 68 religious and social organizations issued a statement calling for a ‘Joint Inter-Korean Olympics and June 10 Student Conference,’ so much so that anyone who spoke of the nation was talking about a joint Olympics between Seoul and Pyongyang throughout May.”
--- Chapter 9.
From "Another Olympics to be held"

“The directors’ interest was not in reflecting the voices of those who spoke for the people, but in staging a ‘charitable spectacle’ that provided the poorest with modern living spaces in the form of apartments and the stage setting for the Olympics.
That's why, when they built rental apartments somewhere in the new city, they didn't take into account at all what the future consequences would be.
(…) The supply of rental apartments was an opportunity for the poor to experience the official Olympic housing as a spectacular stage setting, even if it was in a small space.
For those who lived in a space of 4-5 pyeong, a 7-8 pyeong rental apartment was a better form of housing than before.
But they did not experience the personal social rise that was associated with Korea's rise in national status, nor the pride that came with it, experienced by the middle class who began living in official Olympic housing.
“Rental apartment residents, in the heart of a new, middle-class city, had to endure discrimination and stigma, and were forced to watch the spectacle of official Olympic housing from a corner.”
--- Chapter 10.
From “The Seoul Olympics”

“The social conflict that Korean society has been painfully experiencing since the winter of 2024 demonstrates how vulnerable the 1988 system, based on a performance contract rather than a social contract, is in the face of social conflict and division.
As we move into the 2020s, many people are talking about the limitations of the 1987 system and discussing how to overcome them.
However, the limitations of the 1988 system are precisely the challenges that our society must seriously confront.
“Now is the time to seriously confront the questions of how to transform the performance contract into a social contract, and how to transform the Leviathan that sits in the audience and evaluates the actors on stage into a Leviathan that supports the stage of the lives of members of society.”

--- "conclusion.
After the play ended: From "The Seoul Olympics and the 1988 System"