386 Generation

Etymology

The term was coined in the early 1990s, in reference to what was then the latest computer model, Intel's 386, and referring to people then in their 30s, having attended university in the 1980s, and born in the 1960s.

History

This was the first generation of South Koreans to grow up free from the poverty that had marked South Korea in the recent past. The broad political mood of the generation was far more left-leaning than that of their parents, or their eventual children. They played a pivotal role in the democratic protests which forced President Chun Doo-hwan to claim democratic elections in 1987, marking the transition from military dictatorship (Third and Fifth republic) to democracy.

Members of the 386 generation now comprise much of the elite of South Korean society. Kim Dae-jung benefitted from widespread 386er support, but it is the election of Roh Moo-hyun who was the strongest demonstration of the more left-leaning politics of the generation. Not all 386 generations are upper class or left-liberal, but some 386 generations are described as "liberal elite" or "progressive elite".

References

References

1. (6 August 2015). "한-일 관계 악화, 한국 386세대 탓으로 돌려". [[The Hankyoreh]].
2. (5 February 2008). "Fiasco of 386 Generation".
3. Park Sun-Young. "Shinsedae: Conservative Attitudes of a 'New Generation' in South Korea and the Impact on the Korean Presidential Election". East-West Center.
4. (3 August 2003). "OUT WITH THE OLD".
5. (14 April 2014). "이제는 불가능한 꿈, 중산층". [[Kyunghyang Shinmun]].