South Korean Cultural Ecology - 1905 to 1990 - Part 1 "The Old Days" - Page 7

G. Change is in the Wind

Today Korea is one of the four mini-dragons (Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) that are the fastest growing industrial nations in the world. Korea's capital, Seoul, is the fourth largest city in the world and 75% of the population live in the cities and that is increasing (PBS TV). Its population is 44 million. Its GNP is 222 billion, its GNP growth rate is 9.2%. Its GNP per capital is 5,155 (PC Globe 92). Its gross national product has increased 150% during the 1980s. These are impressive figures for a country with little natural resources. These are impressive for a country that came from an impoverished third-world country 40 years ago after the truce with China and North Korea. How did they do it? What problems did it cause? What the changes does to their past culture? What is the future for Korea today? Part 2, the Change to the Industrial Society will attempt to answer some of these questions and some of the consequences of the situation and of the "solutions" attempted by the technocrats.