To be honest it is a very challenging undertaking to pen the correct words that best describe the transitions Korea went through these past three decades. During my amount of time in Korea between 1978 and 1981, I traveled extensively to each corner of the nation. Quite likely I’ve come across more of Korea than most Koreans. However i cannot even begin to recognize Yonhi-dong where my family and I lived in that earlier time – the magnificent Korean Gate sitting on the home of the school my children attended is the only part of the school that continues to be unchanged -the office where I worked in Kwanghwamun bears little resemblance towards the cold dusty spaces we occupied three decades ago – no longer is there a young boy studying the offices searching for shoes to shine for that few peck won needed for his daily meal – the yakultlady doesn’t seem to make the same rounds as she did before – the tabang within the basement in our offices gave way empty space – the Korean War widowed ggot lady is not selling flowers at the corner in the cold of winter to earn money to care for her children and be sure the amount and her prayer of hope for their better life [both children graduated from university because of her perseverance] -the over-packed buses, belching smoke, no longer rattle along the roads, in need of repair; its customers now ride on computer controlled subways and clean buses unmindful of the earlier days – there is now a stream flowing through the center of Seoul which was previously used like a road with a second elevated highway running above after i lived in Seoul – the wonderful Kyongbokgung, for years hidden behind the Japanese-built government buildings which have now disappeared, opening a spectacular display of breathtaking Korean architecture which i never was in a position to experience after i lived in Seoul thirty years ago. Quite frankly, it is not easy for these old eyes to sit in the Korea that unfolds before me today.
It almost feels as though one woke one day from the dream and saw another country materializing magically before him. Of course, it is actually caused by the vision of Korean national leaders, hard work of government planners in harmony using the private sector [most from the time] and also the indomitable will of the people of Korea that brought the magnificent changes we have seen today.
I remember my own youth in La within the 1940s and 1950s – yes, in the past. Life seemed a lot simpler then. The pace was slower – people weren’t in such a hurry, the road cars seemed to move the population round the city quite nicely and efficiently – families were rooted in their communities and not provided to moving every couple of years out of the box the situation today – children were a blessing to be nurtured and loved instead of shuttled on daycare centers so their parents could live the “American Dream.” Our elected officials felt a larger responsibility and accountability for their constituencies, or so it seemed. Public schools were places of education where meeting standards dictated moving ahead in one year to the next as opposed to the social adjustment concerns that so occupy United States’ school systems today. Entire careers were more likely put in a single company rather than the constant changes which are experienced today because back then there existed a greater feeling of loyalty from both employer and employee. In California we currently run big deficits because of the excesses of government spending that seemingly doesn’t have controls whatsoever. Every special interest is met having a handout. Even those who get to the Usa illegally have entitlement to a lot more than those who are diligently working to take care of their own families and themselves.
A country’s core is deeply affected when fundamental values are so easily altered to reflect the latest trend sweeping across a nation. That appears to be the situation in the United States over the past several years. Our political leaders, in both parties, seem bent on change without substantive insight on how our society is going to be affected.
During our President’s recent trip to Africa, we heard many comparisons in speeches and in the press about development progress. It had been commonplace to read political commentaries that compared the development Domestic Product [GDP] of Korea and Kenya within the 1960s to today. The comparisons are staggering in both cases.
Kenya, where I lived many times in the 1980s, is really a country which should easily be able to feed its citizens and provide job opportunities because of its ever expanding population. It’s not had the opportunity to do either in the Half a century since its independence. On the contrary, its leaders have squandered natural resources, failed in providing basic education to its citizens, allowed tribalism to split up peoples instead of seeking ways to draw people together and allowed a culture of corruption to permeate every facet of society being an acceptable option to responsible governance. Their leaders through the years have squandered treasuries to feed their never ending avarice and unquenchable thirst for the money and power with little complaint and definitely no penalties past the diplomatic rhetoric using their development partners.
However, Korea’s GDP growth continues to be phenomenal on any economic measuring scale. During the same period, it moved from an impoverished country completely dependent on assistance programs to take care of the fundamental needs of their population to 1 that creates quality products utilized in homes and offices and highways around the world. Its people love that prosperity that goes beyond the wildest imaginations of Koreans just one generation ago. To be certain, there are challenges being faced in Korea to maintain its continued economic growth – similar challenges that are being faced by countries all over the world.
The GDP Per Capita in Kenya in 1950 was $947 while Korea was at $876. Today the GDP Per Capita for Kenya stands at approximately $857 when compared with Korea’s staggering $19,505 (Source: IMF World Economic Database October 2009). Those simple statistics eloquently speak volumes to the substantive failures and accomplishments of both countries.
However statistics like these do not give us an effective perspective about the heart of the country and its people. It does serve the purpose of comparing levels of relative development that the United Nations and World Bank use to guide their policies and allocation of resources. But these institutions yet others like them seem unwilling to deal with the fundamental needs of people in the development of nation states. Rather they appear more intent on satisfying the appetites of despots who’re accountable to nobody and ferret away a percentage from the largess around the globe donors into secret bank accounts around the world with impunity. The Un and it is partners show over the years to be a perpetuator of the status quo. It uses the dire statistics in the so-called Third World to draw sympatric responses where substantive changes are simply difficult because of the current state of governmental affairs in those countries.
World media outlets every once in awhile run pictures of desperate ladies and children without any hope to feed the guilt from the “haves” to do more. Yet those same media sources do little to inform concerning the facts that report to why those ladies and children are so desperate. So we send our money and feel better for this.
We dare not offend; we dare not demand responsible leadership in those impoverished countries; we dare not express outrage in the senseless tragedy of men, women and children who were given no voice in building a better life but only suffered unspeakable pains of hunger his or her bodies withered to frail skeletons awaiting death; we dare not expose the mindless killings of whole villages where war is really a constant daily experience with no rational knowledge of why. Exactly how should we tolerate the status quo such circumstances?
But this is a paper about the Republic of Korea. The ranting about the United Nations, World Bank and other international funding organizations may seem out of place. But let’s see if the next few pages might tie the two together.
The changes Korea has undergone in the last three decades are remarkable on any measuring scale. But why was Korea so successful and Kenya seemingly left behind, plus a host of other nations around the globe? Is there anything unique in the Korean Experience from which others can learn?
The book, The Rush To Development, published in 1993,analyzed the development successes Korea had achieved. The writer, a professor at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon, correctly argued that Korean economic advances were more the effect of a highly controlled state planning mechanism which had little related to free market economics. The professor continued to suggest that the repressive and unbalanced nature of South Korea’s growth process, shows how the country has become facing serious economic and political difficulties. In 1993, everything might happen to be true.
Academic studies from the type based in the Rush to Development seem to carry with them a built-in bias upon which the statistical facts support the premise of the author. I certainly lack the academic qualifications to challenge the assumptions of the author. However, I’m comfortable in challenging studies that miss the core of a country. The very fact from the matter is the fact that Korea’s GDP per capita grew from $8,220 in 1993 for an astounding $27,929 in 2008, greater than a 240% +increase (Source:World Development Indicators database, World Bank,September 15, 2009). That is not to suggest the learned professor was wrong in the analysis. Rather it serves to underscore how severely flawed most writers are in tackling Korea. It should not come as a surprise because, to be honest, Korea is one of the more complex nations in the world.
But why is Korea so different? Is it exactly the grouping of peoples unified in a single race and language that helped to propel their economic development that launched them onto the world stage? Perhaps it was exactly the fact of the culture tied to Confucianism, Buddhism, Shamanism and Christian thoughts and values? Or was it perhaps more the circumstances that found Korea within the crosshairs between your major powers of the world at the conclusion of the Korean War hostilities that led to an infusion of significant financial and military aid? Or possibly it had been the coincidence of the geographic location using its severe winters and scorching summers that simply moved the folks forward? Or was it more simply the confluence of it all that made Korea what it’s today?
Here’s what I have arrived at conclude:
Nation building is greatly enhanced when leaders are able to clearly and effectively communicate an image for his or her nation across economic and social spheres. As the Republic of Korea emerged in the Korean War, it had the advantage of one of the major stumbling blocks to real development on its side: ethnic unity coupled with a single shared language. One need only look at the experiences of nations across Africa and Southeast Asia to see the difficulties that retard nation building around the single issue of language and ethnic and racial diversity. Kenya boasts more than 40 tribes among its population with 62 spoken languages. The Kenyan experience isn’t unique among so-called under developed nations. Exactly the same situation is found across a lot of Sub-Sahara Africa.
In the Republic of the Philippines, where lived from 1981 to 1984, its human population is made up of eight different ethnic groups speaking 170 different languages of which 10 are considered major language groups – by any fair measurement it’s a daunting task to bridge this type of diverse number of peoples into a unified nation with shared nation building goals.
If language and ethnic unity would be the first step toward a rustic then culture and religion would be the fabric that binds the nation together. Buddhism and Christianity make up the core of religion in Korea – but underlying are all the strong influence of Confucianism that runs deep into the lifetime of Korea. Although Shamanism remains an influence in Korea, its impact is felt a smaller amount among its predominately urban population. The impact of religion needs to be clearly underscored to understand nation development. The cultural and religious underpinnings of a nation supply the core values that are necessary to a sustained economic development; it is the critical aspect that unites the country’s population and offers an order for growth. Certainly Buddhism and Christianity are very distinct and separate belief systems. But for the purposes here, the key part in nation development is that “religious organizations” become a willing or unwitting partner within the development process. At the minimum, they offer supplemental support to people forgotten in the initial implementation of nescient government programs within the regions of health, education and welfare while undergirding society at large with a unity of spirit – in most cases. Obviously there are marked exceptions where political-religious spheres clash out of the box easily observed in the Middle East between Islam and Judaism and other parts of the planet.
Confucianism’s impact within the growth and development of Korea shares an equally natural part in Korea’s development. Confucian thought and teachings delivered to Korea the importance of education that stresses the moral development of the person leading a respectable life – of that those educated by such a system brings those leanings to the governance of the nation having a first step toward moral virtue instead of repressive laws. When it comes to Korea, this really is another fundamental foundation to its development successes.
Many would reason that Korea was simply “blessed” with an infusion of capital resources when hostilities of the Korean War ended. That, they’d argue, is the genesis of Korea’s economic development success. To a certain extent, that is not an incorrect argument – but it is too simplistic an answer. Clearly, america, Germany, and other nations brought a huge influx of much needed capital to fuel the economic development of Korea. But there’s a key difference in the way in which this largess was put to use in the case of Korea.
Many countries during the 1950s through the 1980s received massive amounts of educational funding from various governments and governmental organizations but without any clear plan for its use. In the case of Korea, the much maligned President Park, Chung-Hee, gathered the best Korean economic minds to develop a far reaching economic development arrange for the country. While ruthless in several aspects of his Presidency, there isn’t any denying his achievements in laying an extremely firm base for the economic development that led to the “Miracle from the Han.” I have yet to find any hint of private corruption by President Park or people in his immediate family – he would be a consummate patriot – at times heavy handed, yes – but a patriot nonetheless.
Another aspect that is not because of the due consideration it deserves on why Korea became this type of huge economic success is due to its geographic location. Essentially Koreans have no choice but to work hard during the spring, summer and autumn months in order to survive through its often very harsh winters. Taking a look at economic development from that perspective it’s possible to start to realize an indisputable trend: moving south and north from the equator one can see that the further one moves toward the North and South Poles the more often one sees economic successes with development aid resources.
But the truth of the matter would be that the economic development successes enjoyed through the Republic of Korea are the consequence of the confluence of all the aforementioned. The fact of merely one language and unified ethnic grouping along with sound moral education going back several hundred years had a fundamental effect on the foundations established to construct the economical engine in Korea. Its geographic location also influenced its development strategy that took into account the harsh climate and also the dependence on imports. A powerful leader grabbed leadership of the country within the 1960s with a very clear vision of in which the country had the capability to get in its economic future utilizing the savings of its economic partners within an effective implementation of the well conceived Korean economic plan that suit the needs and priorities of Korea and Koreans.
It was not a fiscal plan mandated externally. It was a vital component. The leadership from the Republic of Korea well understood it sat between the two major super powers. So it knew it had more leverage in decisions involving the allocation of scarce savings to its small country. As a result, it might stand more firmly on the accomplishment of plans that directly associated with its own priorities rather than the ones from some master planner relaxing in New York or Geneva who had other suggestions for using the funds. To its credit, the Republic held firm on its goals and objectives with staggering positive results enjoyed by Korea and Koreans.
I cannot avoid another aspect which was an essential but little known [outside of Korea] cause of the economic successes of Korea. It is called Saemaul Undong. It is a unique program that other nations have tried without success to emulate. To comprehend the meaning of the words is to understand the goals from the program. Sae means progressive renewal according to consider your experience – continually grow in your accomplishments. Maul means regional and social communities such as villages- Undong simply means “movement.” Thus this is behind the Saemaul Undongideal could be summarized as follows:
Improving and changing our regional community right into a better place to live a much better life.
Creating a better life for my community and neighbors in addition to myself
Achieving both spiritual and material well-being
Building a better place for ourselves and future generations.
This program engaged all levels of society in the development of the Republic. Once a village or an area became a part of the Saemaul Undong,they received a flag – every new completed activity brought by using it a certificate along with a banner to increase the flag. Within the first year 335 sacks of cement were presented to 35,000 villages nationwide. General meetings among villagers selected probably the most worthy project. In the second year another 500 sacks of cement and something lot of steel wire were supplied by the central government. Competition ensued among villages to determine what village would get the greatest recognition. Soon the flags were overtaken through the banners testifying to the accomplishments of local citizens who volunteered their some time and expertise to construct a medical center or a school or perhaps a community center. Everyone became a partner in the development process of Korea because the central government focused on massive infrastructure projects that would allow private industry to construct its factories and begin competing in world markets.
It is similar to the beginning within the establishment of towns within the western Usa. In those times there were no taxes being collected in the people using their earnings. If your school was needed, the town folks volunteered their some time and materials to build the college. So too, if your house or perhaps a barn was destroyed by fire or some other disaster, the town’s people helped its neighbor within their time of need That helpful volunteer spirit has been lost in the United States within the intervening years. We appear to have become too busy in our daily lives to become seriously worried about our neighbors – now we’d rather the federal government take care of it for all of us – until of course we start to see the costs which are involved. Then we start to grumble and complain. It sometimes feels like one’s heart of our country has been lost.
In the final episode of the recently completed Korean TV drama [yes, I watch them; I can't help myself] entitled, in English, “Brilliant Legacy,”["Chal Lan Han Yu San"], the grandmother is talking with her grandson about a mother’s heart and love of her children. She tells him about two children who take the heart from their mother in order to market it in the market for some money. Because they are running into the city, the child holding one’s heart stumbles and falls and the heart falls upon the floor. Once the children rush to get the heart and brush from the dirt, one’s heart says to the children “Are all of you right?” Even in the lack of her life, your love never ends.
I worry sometimes concerning the “heart” of the us – I don’t mean in terms of the current political events in the usa. Rather my concern is the eroding of basic principles upon which our country was founded. There’s an excessive amount of gray in today’s world today and not enough monochrome. By that I don’t mean to imply we ought to not change using the times and adjust to the realities of advancements in society. But there must be some fundamental truths that provide the keystone of the society – those fundamental truths should not be yielded without serious discussion one of the citizens of the country.
We’re in the midst of this type of discussion right now in the United States. As the discussion moves forward, I really hope the core values of my country remain intact – our leaders will have an extended view on the implication of policies that will impact our children and grandchildren.
I had an interesting discussion with my eldest son not long ago. We were referring to Korea and just how the present generation doesn’t have real understanding or appreciation of what the sooner generation of Koreans went through so the current generation could benefit from the fruits of their efforts. I had been sharing with him [for probably the 20thtime] the experiences my spouse experienced as a child growing up in Seoul. I was reminding him how Yongbok and her family were eating dinner about the evening of June 25, 1950 whenever a policeman burst through their front door yelling the North Koreas were only mile north and coming south quickly. Yongbok and her two siblings, mother and father, left food on the table, grabbed a couple of personal belongings and rushed out of the door. She walked for six days to a distant village where she and her family could take refuge. On the way, she saw mutilated bodies, burned homes and withstood the fear of bombs exploding all around her. She had three surgeries throughout the war many had to endure the cutting of her leg with no aid of even a local anesthesia – she was simply held down on the table by her parents plus some nurses while her leg was cut open.
I had been lamenting that it is too bad the current generation lacks any understanding of its past history – they seemingly live only in the present. But as the words came out another question immediately emerged: How come the present generation need to “understand and appreciate” what the earlier generations experienced? Why must there be considered a concern about changing values in the usa or Korea – times change as do circumstances, so why’s it important?
But it doesn’t change our present reality to focus on what brought us to this point in time – the sacrifices of past generations, the down sides they endured, or the threats experienced beyond their country’s borders – rather it is instructive to guarantee the succeeding generations realize what is enjoyed today came at a cost taken care of by a previous generations.
The Republic of Korea is now a full economic partner about the world stage. Its development successes are staggering. And to be fair, america, and the US Agency for International Development in particular, can share a feeling of pride within the unique partnership which was forged in the developmental process of Korea. Huge amount of money were invested in the infrastructure of the country that were left in rubble following the end of hostilities in the Korean War. It had been an investment by having an uncertain future; specifically in light of what was happening in other areas around the globe concentrating on the same infusions of cash within the growth and development of other less civilized world.
Surely, however, that neither america nor other development partners were prepared for the stunning success experienced by Korea. Quickly, the U.S. trade policy experts were clamoring to apply the brakes about the export engine that had been fueled by American dollars. Soon Congress joined within the call for trade restrictions on Korean exports and greater access to the Korean domestic market. Could it be that the Usa and the other donor nations never really expected coming back on the investment? Or if they did, had they considered the way they would deal with that kind of success? It seems to me there’s every indication the response to both questions is a resounding “Yes.”
However the case from the Republic of Korea is extremely unique. I am doubtful the Korean experience can be duplicated within the less developed nations of the world. Korea simply had too many factors uniting at the same time not to be a success. It’s the spirited character of the Korean people that is the critical difference that is moving the country forward. That isn’t easily duplicated. But as Korea continues to prosper and expand its horizons around the world it must be cautious of possible consequences reaching into its core like a country.
