Korea: A Rags to Riches Story

- obtaining goods from overseas which could be used as a basis for reverse engineering and hence aggressive exporting. This was assisted by US government permitting access to American markets. The corollary was to prevent imports as much as possible and encourage people strongly to buy only Korean-made products;
- ignore all international institutions such as the IMF or World Bank promoting any other form of industrialisation. Like the three other so-called Asian Tigers, the ROK became successful by doing pretty much the exact opposite of what economists told it to do.

The results of these policies are undeniably successful, as purchasing power parity figures show that South Koreans now enjoy a Western European level of income. However, there have been prices to pay. Corruption at high levels and in the bureaucracy has been a constant problem, while the lack of industrial and political democracy has led to many human rights abuses over the years. The sacrifices required of workers have also contributed to quite high levels of such social ills as alcoholism and spousal abuse. Small and rival businesses have been crushed by the corporate leviathans, with the assistance of government. Nevertheless, recent years have seen a flowering of Korean culture as new generations come to be able to express their creativity and imagination in what is one of the most highly internet-connected states in the world.

John Walsh, Shinawatra International University, September 2004.

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