FOUR GREAT DECADES FOR SOUTH KOREA

FOUR GREAT DECADES FOR SOUTH KOREAPAUL A. SAMUELSON

SINCE 1960 KOREA HAS COME A LONG, LONG WAY. WHAT WAS ONCE A POOR ASIAN ECONOMY HAS BECOME A MODERN INDUSTRIAL LEADER, WITH A BUOYANTLY PROGRESSIVE GROWTH RATE IN REAL GDP PER CAPITA. PARALLEL WITH THIS MATERIAL CHANGE HAS NO DOUBT BEEN EVOLUTION OF ITS CULTURAL WAY OF LIFE.

I FIND IT HARD TO NAME ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE THAT MATCHES THIS KOREAN REVOLUTION. WHAT ABOUT AMERICA IN ITS FIRST FORTY YEARS AS AN INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC, FREED BY SUCCESSFUL WAR FROM ITS COLONIAL OWNERSHIP BY KING GEORGE Ⅲ'S IMPERIAL BRITAIN? YES, THE U. S. A DID GROW IN REAL GDP BETWEEN 1790 AND 1830. BUT MOSTLY THIS WAS A CONTINUATION OF TWO CENTURIES OF PROGRESS IN A NEW WORLD RICH WITH NATURAL RESOURCES AND FED BY A STREAM OF READY IMMIGRANTS SEEKING HIGHER STANDARDS OF LIVING.

WHAT ABOUT JAPAN IN THE 1960~2000 PERIOD OR IN THE FORTY YEARS FOLLOWING ITS 1945 DEFEAT? CERTAINLY JAPANESE SOCIETY HAD EXPERIENCED DRAMATIC CHANGE SIMILAR TO THAT IN KOREA. BUT REMEMBER THAT OVER SINCE THE MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY MEIJI RESTORATION, PRE-WORLD WAR ⅡJAPAN HAD OPERATED AS AN INDEPENDENT, SELF-GOVERNING NATION. SHE HAD NO PERIOD OF COLONIAL EXPLOITATION TO LIVE DOWN AND GROW OUT OF, COMPARABLE TO KOREA'S.

THE EARLY STORY OF KOREA'S MIRACULOUS TAKE-OFF IS NOT A TALE OF　IDEAL MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY. AS IN A NUMBER OF OTHER PLACES, MILITARY DICTATORSHIP COEXISTED IN TIME WITH THE FIRST AWAKENING OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND EXPORT-ORIENTED GROWTH(TAIWAN AND SINGAPORE, LACKING THE HAPPENSTANCE OF HONG KONG'S LENIENT SUPPORT BY THE BRITISH EMPIRE, ALSO BEGAN THEIR GROWTH SPURTS WHILE UNDER LIMITED DEMOCRACY RULE-PROVING

APPARENTLY THAT SOME COEXISTENCE IS POSSIBLE BETWEEN CAPITALISTIC MARKET 'LAISSEZ FAIRE' AND POLITICAL DESPOTISM).

MILITARY JUNTAS--AS IN ARGENTINA, BRAZIL, PARAGUAY, PERU, AND ELSEWHERE IN LATIN AMERICA--MORE OFTEN THAN NOT COEXISTED WITH ECONOMIC STAGNATION AND CHRONIC CORRUPTION. NIGERIA'S BOUNTIFUL OIL RESERVES DID LITTLE TO ALLEVIATE THAT COUNTRY'S POVERTY; THE CONGO, WITH ITS ABUNDANCE OF EXPLOITABLE MINERAL RESOURCES, SIMILARLY FAILED TO BENEFIT ITS STARVING MILLIONS. (BY CONTRAST, UNDER NORWAY'S EGALITARIAN SCANDINAVIAN GOVERNMENTS, THE FORTUITOUS DISCOVERY OF PLENTIFUL NORTH SEA OIL RESULTED IN ENHANCED EDUCATION, PUBLIC SERVICES AND WIDELY SHARED GAINS IN CITIZENRY WELL-BEING.

WHAT ABOUT KOREA'S FUTURE? NO SOCIETY CAN REST ON ITS PAST LAURELS AND EXPECT PROGRESS TO CONTINUE MERELY FROM ITS OWN MOMENTUM. NOW THE KOREAN CITIZENRY ARE FREE FROM MILITARY DICTATORS WHO RULE FROM THE POINT OF A GUN. HOW ARE THEY GOING TO UTILIZE THIS FREEDOM?

SUPPOSE TRADE UNIONS BECOME INCREASINGLY ACTIVE TO RESIST ANY ADVERSE WINDS OF CHANGE THAT STEM DYNAMIC ALTERATIONS INSEPARABLE FROM MARKET CAPITALISM. SUPPOSE COLLEGE STUDENTS, SENSITIVE TO INEQUALITIES WHICH ARE COMMON TO THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA AND ELSEWHERE IN ASIAN TAKE TO THE STREETS IN REBELLION AGAINST "GLOBALIZATION" AND ALL THAT THIS WORD IMPLIES.

CAN THERE BE DOUBT, THAT THIS COULD AFFECT AVAILABILITY OF INVESTMENT CAPITAL FROM ABROAD AND THE CREDIT RATINGS ACCORDED TO KOREAN BANKS AND CORPORATIONS? I DO NOT CONFINE MYSELF TO THE IMF AND WORLD BANK REACTIONS.

ORDINARY COMMERCE-BULK ORDERS BY WALMART FOR MANUFACTURED GOODS THAT KOREAN ARE EFFICIENT IN MAKING, JOINT VENTURES BETWEEN YOUR DOMESTIC CORPORATIONS AND OUTSIDE-KOREA CORPORATIONS-ALL THESE CAN BE AFFECTED BY THE DEVELOPING NATURE OF SOUTH KOREAN DEMOCRACY IN THE NEW CENTURY.

WITHIN EUROPE, A NEW IRELAND PROSPERS. AN OLD FRANCE, WHICH IMPOSES LEGISLATIVELY A 35-HOUR WORK AT NO REDUCTION IN PAY PER HOUR, FALLS BEHIND GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF FINLAND, DENMARK, THE UNITED KINGDOM AND REFORMED HOLLAND.

DEMOCRACIES WILL RECEIVE WHAT THEY INSIST ON HAVING-THE BAD AS WELL AS THE GOOD. KOREA IS ON THE THRESHOLD OF A NEW ERA. IT MUST WORK OUT ITS OWN COMPROMISES AND RESPONSES TO CHALLENGES.

A SOCIETY CAN BE WELL SERVED, OF POORLY SERVED, BY ITS NEWSPAPER PRESS. IF I MAY JUDGE FROM THE MANY INVITATIONS I HAVE RECEIVED OVER THE DECADES TO WRITE IN ECONOMICS FOR KOREAN NEWSPAPER READERS, KOREA'S PRESS HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE AN IMPORTANT AID TO ITS ECONOMIC PROGRESS. ON ITS 40TH BIRTHDAY, I SALUTED THE SEOUL KUNGJE SHINMUN AND WISH FOR IT AND ITS READERS FUTURE DECADES OF INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPMENT.입력시간 2000/08/06 19:37

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