This paper examines in two parts the Korean women's movement of the 1980s. Part 1, "National Unification and the Task of the Women's Movement in Korea" contains an overview of Korean unification attempts and discusses the role of the women's movement. The Federation of Korean Women's Organizations (FKWO), formed in 1987, is an umbrella organization for religious and political women's associations. Nationalism must become an ideology of the movement, and an active role by women must be included to achieve unification. Part 2, "Toward a Grass-Roots Women's Movement in Korea: Through Class Consciousness," describes the plight of the employed women, the lack of sexual equality in Korea, and the FKWO's political activities, strengths, and weaknesses. The FKWO has been successful in gaining women's union organization rights, the abolition of early retirement at age 25, and the release of a political prisoner. The FKWO's strength lies in its grassroots appeal and its efforts to thwart the military government's oppressive rule, while the organization's weakness involves neglect of some women-centered issues such as unequal sexual division of labor in the home and the work place. (DJC)