IIUD recorded oral history of six slum-evictees and street vendors who led the urban poor movement in the 1980s. As project outputs, we produced highlight videos and full interview transcripts; you can explore their lives and the course of the urban poor movement as told in their own voices. These oral history records are the outcome of a research project carried out as part of “The Oral History Archives of the Democracy Movement: The Urban Poor Movement in the 1980s,”initiated by the Korea Democracy Foundation.

• Project Team:

  Boram Kimhur & Minjung Oh (Leading researchers)

  Subin Kim & Sangmin Lee (Filming and video production)

  Seul-gi Lee (Transcription)

• Project Period: May 2025 – November 2025

The Urban Poor Movement in the 1980s:

Changes led by slum-evictees and street vendors

In the 1980s, amid forced evictions of informal settlements and street vendors, urban poor communities organized themselves, built solidarity, and emerged as the main actors of social movement. This oral history project documents that era through the language of the urban poor and their lived experiences. From fights against forced evictions to organised demonstrations, formation of people’s organizations, and contribution to democracy movements in South Korea—these stories do not begin with abstract theory, but with life itself, revealing the history of the democracy movement and the urban poor movement as it was lived.

Topics covered in this oral history project

• How the urban poor’ movements started and being organised in the 1980s

• The emergence and activities of urban poor organizations and network

• The role of women activists (“the mothers”)

• Strategies of survival and solidarity among street vendors and slum-evictees (informal settlers)

• Conflicts with the state, administrative authorities, and development-driven policies

• The significance of the urban poor movement within Korea’s democracy movement

Why This Record Matters

The urban poor movement of the 1980s has long been underrepresented in historical records and academic research. This project, based on interviews with grassroots leaders of the movement, writes the history of the democracy movement from the perspective of the urban poor (slum-evictees and street vendors). These testimonies go beyond individual life stories to form an essential historical record, revealing another vital layer of Korea’s democracy movement and inclusive city making.

Overview of the project outputs

• Six interviews of grassroots leaders, namely Geon-sik KIM (also known as Ji-min KIM), Eul-gyu KIM (also known as Seong-gyu KIM), Jeong-hee KIM, Jin-hong KIM, Su-hee NOH, Ho-wol HYUN

• Interview video and audio recordings (4–5 hours recording per interview; about 25 hours in total)

• Full interview transcripts

• Summarized interview content

• Interview highlight videos

(All outputs are accessible via the Korea Democracy Foundation’s Open Archive, page of “Oral History Collection: The Urban Poor Movement in the 1980s” – all archived materials in Korean)

Interview highlights

Jeong-hee Kim

“The urban poor movement was a kind of liberation for myself…”

▶ Visit Open Archive page of Jeong-hee Kim (김정희) for her biography, interview content and interview summary

Ho-wol Hyun  

“When it comes to eviction struggles and the urban poor movement, I think women were the main actors.”

▶ Visit Open Archive page of Ho-wol Hyun (현호월) for her biography, interview content and interview summary

Jin-hong Kim  

"Poor people are people too."

▶ Visit Open Archive page of Jin-hong Kim (김진홍) for his biography, interview content and interview summary

Eul-gyu Kim (also known as Seong-gyu Kim)    

"What made it meaning was, people organized themselves to overcome their own problems, instead of depending on outside activists"

▶ Visit Open Archive page of Eul-gyu Kim (김을규) for his biography, interview content and interview summary

Su-hee Noh   

"It became an opportunity for street vendors to understand, step by step, the human rights guaranteed by the Constitution"

▶ Visit Open Archive page of Su-hee Noh (노수희) for his biography, interview content and interview summary

Geon-sik Kim (also known as Ji-min Kim)  

“In the end, it was a structural problem, a political problem—and through solidarity, we became stronger.”

▶ Visit Open Archive page of Geon-sik Kim (김건식) for his biography, interview content and interview summary

▶ Korea Democracy Foundation Open Archive

“Oral History Collection: The Urban Poor Movement in the 1980s”

On the Open Archive, you can view summaries of the oral histories and interview highlight videos from this project. Full interview videos, audio recordings, and complete transcripts are available upon request to the Korea Democracy Foundation.