Korea’s Economic Institutions and the Crisis

Abstract

Korea has long been praised as an excellent example of successful capitalist economic development. Despite poor natural resources and the legacies of the colonization by Japan and the Korean War, it emerged as an industrial power in a relatively short time, showing a remarkable pathway from the periphery. Entry into the OECD in December 1996 was publicized by the Kim Young-Sam government as the symbol of Korea’s economic ‘arrival’.