As in Argentina, there are specific issues that contributed to the financial instability which led to political activism. Before the crisis in 1997, “There were fewer students joining political organizations on campus, and the number of radical student activists fell significantly. Political apathy seemed more popular than political engagement.” Based on a past history of political involvement, the relatively long period of stability preceding the economic collapse may have contributed to the lack of political involvement in South Korea. Nevertheless, in the chaos of economic crisis during 1997, “South Korean students and workers held a rally to protest the IMF agreement. They carried signs and chanted slogans such as ‘Arrest Kim Young Sam for ruining the economy’ and ‘because the government and rich chaebol owners ruined the economy, workers will suffer the pain’.” (Freedman, 185) The economic crisis did not only affect those poor workers in South Korea though. As stated by Ha, “It was a ‘human crisis’ affecting the social and economic welfare of millions of people; it was a ‘crisis of globalization’ demonstrating that market forces are destructive as well as productive; and it was a ‘crisis of international institutions’, displaying the inadequacies of the IMF and other multilateral arrangements designed to manage the global political economy.” (Ha and Teahyun, 60) Political and social effects of the South Korean economic crisis were tremendous and social problems, such as psychological damage, persist today as a result of the crisis.
