North and South Korea -- Page 9

South Korea Economy

Since the Korean War, the South Korean economy has been revitalized and greatly expanded with the aid of capital investment from the United States and, since the mid-1960s, from Japan. During the 1960s and 1970s the economy grew at a rate between 7% and 10% a year. Economic growth continued during the 1980s, except for negative growth in 1980. Overseas construction contracts, particularly in the Middle East, provided a significant source of income.

Manufacturing and Power

Manufacturing provides most of South Korea's exports. Early postwar industrial development focused on Korea's low labor costs and included such labor-intensive industries as electronics, footwear, and textile manufacturing.

Today Korean-made television, videocassette recorders, and textiles successfully compete with those made in Japan. In addition, emphasis is now placed on industries producing high value-added items, such as petrochemicals, steel, ships, cement, and automobiles and trucks. Seoul is the principal industrial center, followed by Pusan, the oil refining and shipbuilding center of Ulsan, and the petrochemical and steel mill town of Yochon. After the Korean War, South Korea began a massive construction effort to develop electrical generating facilities, including nuclear power stations. In 1989, 80 billion kW h of electricity were produced (16 times the 1966 output). This power is produced primarily from thermal plants fueled with imported petroleum.