Book recounts poverty-stricken Korean coal miners' contribution to their country

• Published date: 23 February 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

From 1963 to 1977, a total of 7,938 Korean men jumped on airplanes to Germany hoping to support their families in Korea with foreign currency. Many of them had no prior experience working in mines.

It is a well-known fact that their remittance contributed to Korea's economic growth. During that time, miners and nurses in Germany remitted around $112 million to Korea, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

However, Lee You-jae, a professor at the University of Tubingen and the son of a miner who settled down in Germany, said there was more to their contribution than that.

Lee You-jae / Screenshot from University of Tubingen's website

"The important part is their struggles to make a living helped prepare infrastructure for Korean corporates, government institutions, and students seeking opportunities in Germany after the 1980s," Lee said.

He traced the lives of the former miners who settled in Germany after their contracts ended and published his findings in a book titled "Gluck Auf!" (Good luck!). The book was translated into Korean and published here earlier this year.

"One of the former miners who worked at one of the warehouses of LG, when LG was expanding its business to Germany, offered his house as lodging for expatriates from Korea. He even took care of their leisure and travel," the professor told The Korea Times. He even moved into a bigger house to accommodate more people.

"Another miner who ran a hotel at the time offered its rooms to expatriates from Daewoo Motors and Samsung, when both companies also sought business in Germany. Another miner who ran a travel agency felt a responsibility to Korean students who came to Germany, so he searched for a grant which (Germany) offers to students from the Third World," he said.

Miners also formed Korean communities and have built 38 Korean schools across Germany since the 1970s, according to Na Bok-chan, a former miner who went to Germany in 1977. He is also the branch manager of Kyoposhinmun, a weekly newspaper for Koreans living in Germany.

"We, former miners, have huge pride in having contributed to Korea's modernization. That's what made us endure the hard times," Na said.

Korean men wave farewell as they board an airplane that is set to transport them to Germany in 1963. Korea Times file

Indeed, life in Germany was not favorable to them in the...