Surrounded by the Yellow Sea to the west, the East China Sea to the south, and the Sea of Japan to the east, South Korea forms the southern part of the Korean peninsula, just south of its controversial North Korean neighbour after the nation’s sundering in the 1950s Korean War. With a land area of just over 100,000 square kilometres, including 3,300 mostly desert islands, more than 60% of its territory is covered by forest. Despite the forest cover, and similarly to Japan, South Korea has become one of the world’s high-tech hubs, having birthed conglomerates, called chaebols – literally “wealth cliques” – in the form of Samsung, LG and Hyundai Motor. With most of its wealth coming from manufacturing and services, South Korea was recently classified as the third-largest exporter in Asia after China and Japan, and the seventh worldwide, with top exports including computers, smartphones and cars. Over the past few decades, South Korea has played an increasingly major role on the international stage, and significantly increased its weight in the global economy. Established as a standalone nation only 70 years ago, South Korea is currently considered East Asia’s most developed country, and stands as an example of fast economic expansion. With a GDP in the region of $1.5 trillion, and a GDP per capita at around $32,000, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, South Korea is the 11th-largest economy worldwide – an impressive rank considering the country is ranked only 107th in terms of size, with a population of just over 51 million. Hicheon Kim, professor of strategy and organisation and director of the Korea University Business School (KUBS) Startup Institute, said: “Few economies in the world have matched the phenomenal economic development of Korea in terms of industrialisation and technological progress.” South Korea’s industrialisation kicked off in the 1960s, following the military coup orchestrated by Park Chung-hee that led him to become the country’s president. In power for 16 years, Park launched a series of five-year developments to drive the country’s economic growth, starting with the agriculture and energy sectors. The most famous of these was the first five-year plan, implemented between 1962 and 1966. Jay Eum, co-founder and managing director at Palo Alto-based early-stage venture capital firm TransLink Capital, for which he oversees South Korean activities, distinguishes two periods in the country’s economic development. He said: “After the Korean War economic blow [after 1953], the government worked closely with selected corporations to undertake major…
Challenging the dominance of South Korea’s chaebols
Jul 20, 2018 •
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