Seoul Peace Market Explained

Seoul Peace Market (서울평화시장; Seoul Pyeonghwa Sijang) was an area in Cheonggyecheon area in Seoul, South Korea.

In 1960s and 1970s it was known as a site of numerous sweatshops, criticized for poor working conditions.^[1] On November 13, 1970, Jeon Tae-il, a Korean worker and workers' rights activist, committed suicide by burning himself to death at that location in protest of the poor working conditions in then South Korean factories.^{[2] [3]}

By early 1990s most industry has relocated from that area,^[4] and it became well known as a quality marketplace, particularly for garments, attracting not just locals but even international tourists.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Book: Peterson. Brief History: Brief History of Korea. Infobase Publishing. 2009. 978-1-4381-2738-5. 224.
2. Book: Dennis McNamara. Market and Society in Korea: Interest, Institution and the Textile Industry. 2 September 2003. Routledge. 978-1-134-47834-7. 67.
3. Book: Bruce Cumings. Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History (Updated Edition). 17 September 2005. W. W. Norton. 978-0-393-34753-1. 375.
4. Web site: 2010-01-06. [2010 연중기획] 희미해진 평화시장의 ‘전태일 기억’]. 2021-03-21. weekly.khan.co.kr. ko.
5. Book: Chun Soonok. They Are Not Machines: Korean Women Workers and their Fight for Democratic Trade Unionism in the 1970s. 29 September 2017. Taylor & Francis. 978-1-351-87953-8. 60–65.