The 386 Generation () is the

generation A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and b ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

ns born in the 1960s who were very active politically as young adults, and instrumental in the democracy movement of the 1980s. The 386 Generation takes a critical view of the United States and a sympathetic view of North Korea. ''

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' () is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarde ...

'', a South Korean left-liberal newspaper, reported that right-wing conservatives in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

perceive the 386 generation as being " anti-Japanese".

Etymology

The term was coined in the early 1990s, in reference to what was then the latest computer model, Intel's

386 __NOTOC__ Year 386 (Roman numerals, CCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Euodius (or, less frequently, year 1139 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...

, 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 Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...

to claim democratic elections in 1987, marking the transition from military dictatorship (

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and Fifth republic) to

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

. Members of the 386 generation now comprise much of the elite of South Korean society.

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (, ; 6 January 192418 August 2009) was a South Korean politician, activist and statesman who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. Kim entered politics as a member of the new wing of the Democratic Pa ...

benefitted from widespread 386er support, but it is the election of

Roh Moo-hyun Roh Moo-hyun (, ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea from 2003 to 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

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 Liberal elite, also referred to as the metropolitan elite or progressive elite, is a term used to describe politically liberal people whose education has traditionally opened the doors to affluence, wealth and power and who form a managerial elit ...

" or "progressive elite".

References

{{reflist, 30em Cultural generations Demographics of South Korea Liberalism in South Korea South Korean democracy movements Korean nationalism History of South Korea Political terminology in South Korea Fifth Republic of Korea

Etymology

History

See also

References