Because only an idiot will argue that North Korea is more democratic than South Korea, it's best to place and keep this report about the recent struggle between South Korean railway workers and their capitalist state in its proper context...

The mainstream media struggle to understand Korea. Throughout December, global news coverage focussed on the latest purge in North Korea, a former basketball star’s visit to the Communist state, and rising tensions between both Koreas and Japan, following the visit of the Japanese prime minister to a controversial war memorial. But CNN, the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera and others had absolutely nothing to say about a strike in South Korea that has shaken the society profoundly—culminating in mass actions involving hundreds of thousands of people on the last weekend of 2013.

And why did the railway workers go on strike? Because neoliberalism, even in its current zombie state, is still in effect:

The railway workers were angry that a new bullet-train line to be built would be in private hands—a first step towards privatisation of Korail, the national rail network.

The state's response to this round of protests and its defense of the interest of the rich has been raw and direct. A neoliberalism that lacks the enchantment and legitimacy of ideology must more and more resort to force.