South korea a socioeconomic overview from the past to present

List of FiguresFigure 1.1.1 Political development of the Korean peninsula, eighteenth to twenty-first century 4Figure 1.2.1 The decline of the Korean bureaucracy in Figure 1.3.1 Persons

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Identifiers: LCCN 2016031034 (print) | LCCN 2016038529 (ebook) | ISBN 9781412863971 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781412863681 (eBook)Subjects: LCSH: Korea (South) Economic conditions | Korea (South) Social conditions | Korea (South) History

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Abbreviations xxiiiMap xxviiChronology xxixPreface xxxiAcknowledgments xxxv

1.1 Korea in Macrohistorical Perspective 11.2 Korea in the Era of High Imperialism 7

1.4 Korea Facing Liberation and Division 32

2.5 Rural Development 143Part 3 Economic Perspectives of South Korea 171

4.1 Paradigmatic Change in South Korea 299

List of Figures

Figure 1.1.1 Political development of the Korean

peninsula, eighteenth to twenty-first century 4Figure 1.2.1 The decline of the Korean bureaucracy in

Figure 1.3.1 Persons incarcerated in the Seodaemun

Figure 1.3.2 Sectoral and total growth rates in Colonial

Figure 1.3.3 Rice production, rice export, and rice

consumption in Colonial Korea, 1912–1936 27Figure 2.1.1 Share of draftees in the military and social

services in (West) Germany, 1961–2008 59Figure 2.2.1 Population and population projections of

Figure 2.2.2 Population pyramid by birth year and age

at census in South Korea and in comparative perspective with North Korea in 2008 65Figure 2.2.3 Aged-, youth-, and nondependency ratios in

Figure 2.2.4 Sex ratios at birth in South Korea in

comparative perspective with North Korea, 1971–2012 75Figure 2.2.5 Lifetime abortion-experience rate in South

Figure 2.2.6 Total fertility rates in South Korea in

comparative perspective with North Korea, 1966–2008 77Figure 2.2.7 Age-specific fertility rates of South Korea

in comparative perspective with North

Figure 2.2.8 Age-specific death rates in South Korea in

comparative perspective with North

Figure 2.2.9 Infant-mortality rate in South Korea in

comparative perspective with North Korea, 1960–2010 83Figure 2.2.10 Total life expectancy at birth in South Korea

in comparative perspective with North Korea, 1960–2010 84Figure 2.2.11 State of the Korean diaspora in the world by

Figure 2.2.12 Outflow of South Koreans to foreign countries

by selected major destinations and number of registered South Koreans overseas, 1964–2009 88Figure 2.2.13 Outflow of adoptees from South Korea to

Figure 2.2.14 State of the foreign diaspora in South Korea

Figure 2.2.15 Inflow of foreigners by selected immigration

groups to South Korea and number of registered foreigners from overseas countries, 1990–2012 92Figure 2.2.16 Inflow of North Koreans to South Korea,

1940s–2013 94Figure 2.3.1 Trend in height of men in South Korea by

Figure 2.3.2 Trend in height of women in South Korea

Figure 2.3.3 Height trend of zero- to twenty-year-old

males in South Korea by age at measurement, 1965–2005 101Figure 2.3.4 Height trend of zero- to twenty-year-old

females in South Korea by age at measurement, 1965–2005 101Figure 2.3.5 Weight trend of zero- to twenty-year-old

males in South Korea by age at measurement, 1965–2005 102Figure 2.3.6 Weight trend of zero- to twenty-year-old

females in South Korea by age at measurement, 1965–2005 102

Figure 2.3.7 Body mass index trend of eight and seventeen-

year-old males in South Korea, 1956–2005 106Figure 2.3.8 Body mass index trend of eight and seventeen-

year-old females in South Korea, 1956–2005 107Figure 2.3.9 Overweight rates of adults by gender in South

Figure 2.3.10 Overweight, normal weight and underweight

rates of adults by age group and gender in

Figure 2.3.11 Daily food intake per capita in grams in South

Figure 2.3.12 Share of proteins, fats and carbohydrates

consumed in South Korea, 1948–1995 115Figure 2.3.13 Share of plant and animal food consumed

Figure 2.3.16 Milk-consumption index and share of schools

providing lunches in South Korea, 1975–2010 123Figure 2.4.1 First level intramigration rates in South Korea

in comparative perspective with North Korea, 1965–2009 125Figure 2.4.2 Second- and third-level intramigration rates

in South Korea in comparative perspective

Figure 2.4.3 Urbanization in South Korea, 1944–2008 129Figure 2.4.4 Population by type of housing in South Korea,

1975–2010 130Figure 2.4.5 Housing construction investments on total fixed

capital investments in South Korea, 1953–1998 136Figure 2.4.6 Working hours in South Korea and in

Figure 2.4.7 Domestic sales of motor vehicles in South

Figure 2.5.1 Content analysis of references to rural

development in major speeches by the

Figure 2.5.2 Total amount of saemaeul undong

Figure 2.5.5 Number of volunteers passing the saemaeul

undong leadership program, 1972–1980 162Figure 2.5.6 Power tillers and tractors introduced to farms

Figure 3.1.5 Motor vehicle production in South Korea

and selected countries, 1985–2010 185Figure 3.1.6 Electronic merchandise production in South

Korea and selected countries, 1990–2007 187Figure 3.1.7 Mobile phone subscribers in South Korea

and selected countries, 2002–2008 189Figure 3.1.8 Share of households with Internet access

in South Korea and selected countries, 2001–2007 189Figure 3.1.9 Share of information and communications

technology (ICT) manufacturing on total

Figure 3.1.15 Massive-multiplayer-online gaming industry

Figure 3.1.16 Market share of popular massive-multiplayer-

online games developed by NCSoft, 1997–2013 201Figure 3.2.1 Import and export development of South

Figure 3.2.2 Trade balance of South Korea, 1960–2010 209Figure 3.2.3 Share of major export groups in total exports

Figure 3.2.4 Share of major import groups in total imports

Figure 3.2.5 Share of exports from South Korea to Japan

Figure 3.2.6 Share of imports from Japan and the United

Figure 3.3.1 Share of population having attained at least

some formal education in (South) Korea and

Figure 3.3.4 Gross enrollment rates in lower education

institutes in South Korea, 1940–2015 224Figure 3.3.5 Adult literacy rates in South Korea and the

Figure 3.3.6 Private expenditures on total education in

South Korea and developed countries in 2000 228Figure 3.3.7 Private expenditures on lower education in

South Korea and developed countries in 2000 230Figure 3.3.8 Lower education and higher education

enrollments in South Korea, 1950–2010 235Figure 3.3.9 Number of higher education institutes in

Figure 3.3.10 Students enrolled in higher education in South

Figure 3.3.11 Gross enrollment rates in higher education

institutes in South Korea, 1980–2015 238Figure 3.3.12 Private expenditures on higher education in

South Korea and developed countries in 2000 239

Figure 3.3.13 Indicators of higher education globalization

Figure 3.3.16 Rankings of South Korean universities in the

QS-THE World University Rankings, 2004–2008 256Figure 3.4.1 Share of advertisements in South Korean

Figure 3.4.2 Prevalence of rational consumption, irrational

consumption and shopping addiction in South Korea and selected countries in 2005 263Figure 3.4.3 Prevalence of irrational consumption in South

Korea and selected countries in 2005 264Figure 3.4.4 Influence of advertisements on purchases in

South Korea and selected countries in 2005 265Figure 3.4.5 Materialistic values in developed nations as

Figure 3.4.6 Number of new department stores opening

Figure 3.5.1 Subranking components in the inaugural

Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brand Index of 2008 276Figure 3.5.2 Subrankings of South Korean people on

South Korea and the world on South Korea in the inaugural Anholt-GfK Roper Nation

Figure 3.5.3 Subrankings of the Asian region on South

Korea compared to the world in the inaugural Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brand Index of 2008 281Figure 3.5.4 Subrankings of the North American region on

South Korea in the inaugural Anholt-GfK

Figure 3.5.5 Subrankings of the Western European region

on South Korea in the inaugural Anholt-GfK

Figure 3.5.6 Subrankings of the Eastern European region

on South Korea in the inaugural Anholt-GfK

Figure 3.5.7 Subrankings of the Latin American region on

South Korea in the inaugural Anholt-GfK

Figure 3.5.8 Subrankings of the African region on

South Korea in the inaugural Anholt-GfK

Figure 3.5.9 Subrankings of Americans and Germans on

South Korea in the inaugural Anholt-GfK

Figure 3.5.10 Number of Korea-related articles per year in the

American magazine Time, 1948–2013 290Figure 3.5.11 Number of Korea-related articles per year in the

German magazine Spiegel, 1948–2013 291Figure 3.5.12 Good news vs bad news articles in an American

Figure 3.5.13 Good news vs bad news articles in a

List of Tables

Table 1.1.1 GDP per capita in the world, 1500–2010 3Table 1.2.1 Japan’s gradual annexation of Korea in

Table 1.3.1 Political prisons by workforce in Colonial

Table 1.4.1 Diplomatic events affecting Korea at

Table 2.2.1 Sex ratios at birth in the world in 2002 67Table 2.3.1 Height of seventeen to eighteen-year-old

adolescents in South Korea and selected

Table 2.3.2 Underweight rates of preschool children

and low-birthweight rates in South Korea

Table 2.3.3 Overweight rates of adults in South Korea

and selected developed countries, 1995–2008 111Table 2.3.4 Obesity rates of adults in South Korea and

selected developed countries around 2000 112Table 2.3.5 Overweight rates of adults by socioeconomic

Table 2.4.1 Share of residents by province in South

Korea living in apartments in comparative perspective with North Korea in 2009 135Table 2.5.1 Rural-urban differences in chronic child

undernutrition in the world around the

Table 2.5.2 Phases of the saemaeul undong in

Table 2.5.3 Share of voters for PARK Chung Hee by

rural and urban residence in 1963 156

Table 2.5.4 Countries benefiting from saemaeul undong

and army rank in South Korea in 1969 174Table 3.1.3 Timing of year plans in South Korea in

comparative perspective with North Korea

Table 3.1.4 Major phases of year plans in South Korea

Table 3.1.5 Power of the top jaebeol in South Korea,

1977–1987 191Table 3.1.6 Korean films and music products

Table 3.1.7 Views of Korean music videos in Europe,

America and Oceania versus the local

Table 3.1.8 Ranking of popular, massive-multiplayer-

online games in the world, 1997–2013 200Table 3.2.1 Major export-promotion incentives,

1950s–1980s 205Table 3.2.2 Major exports from South Korea by

1954–2012 217Table 3.3.1 Programme for International Student Assessment

inaugural country rankings of 2000 227Table 3.3.2 Programme for International Student

Assessment Rankings of South Korea and

Table 3.3.3 Subjective well-being of teenagers in

Table 3.3.4 Ranking criteria in the QS-THE World

Table 3.3.5 Rankings of higher education institutions

by nation in the inaugural QS-THE World

Table 3.3.6 Number of higher education institutes by

share of nations in the inaugural QS-THE

Table 3.4.1 Comparison of capitalism and communism

as answers to the industrialization 267Table 3.5.1 Coding of subindicators in the Anholt-GfK

Table 3.5.2 Country rankings in the inaugural Anholt-

GfK Roper Nation Brand Index of 2008 279Table 3.5.3 South Korea in the Anholt-GfK Roper

Table 3.5.4 Similar country names in the world 293Table 3.5.5 Ranking positions of the top ten nations

in the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brand

Table 5.1.2 Underlying data for figure 1.2.1: the decline

of the Korean bureaucracy in the Joseon

Table 5.1.3 Underlying data for figure 1.3.1.: persons

incarcerated in the Seodaemun Prison, 1914–1945 306Table 5.1.4 Underlying data for figure 2.2.13: outflow

of adoptees from South Korea to foreign

Table 5.1.5 Underlying data for figure 2.2.16: inflow

of North Koreans to South Korea, 1940s–2013 309Table 5.1.6 Underlying data for figure 3.1.15:

massive-multiplayer-online gaming industry

Table 5.1.7 Underlying data for figure 3.1.16: market

share of popular massive-multiplayer-online games developed by NCSoft, 1997–2013 310Table 5.1.8 Underlying data for figure 3.4.5: Materialistic

values in developed nations as of 2010 311Table 5.1.9 Underlying data for figure 3.5.9: Number of

Korea-related articles per year in the

American magazine, Time, 1948–2013 312Table 5.1.10 Underlying data for figure 3.5.10: Number

of Korea-related articles per year in the

German magazine, Spiegel, 1948–2013 314Table 5.1.11 Underlying data for figure 3.5.11: good

news vs bad news articles in an American

Table 5.1.12 Underlying data for figure 3.5.13: good news vs

bad news articles in a German magazine, 1948–2013 318Table 5.2.1 Sources of relevant Korea-related historical

documents 320Table 5.2.2 Two forgotten Korean Wars in world history 320Table 5.2.3 Two approaches in population studies 321Table 5.2.4 Core and supplementary nations in the

inaugural Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brand

List of Images

Image 2.1.1 Conformity through the lens of the color of

Image 2.1.2 A trash can on the campus of Seoul National

University 57Image 2.3.1 A green food zone sign at a school in

Image 2.4.3 A warning shield for women wearing high

heels found in subway stations in Seoul 142Image 2.5.1 A saemaeul undong flag in South Korea 152

Image 3.4.1 A shop that is renting luxury goods in

3D workers dirty, dangerous, difficult workers

Anholt-GfK Simon Anholt-Gesellschaft fuer KonsumforschungASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations

b-boying break-boying (“break dancing”)

BK21 Brain Korea 21st Century

Brig Brigadier

CCTV closed-circuit television

CD-ROM compact disc read-only memory

CDMA code division multiple access

CEO chief executive officer

CIA Central Intelligence Agency

DPRK Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

(or North Korea)

DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo

EFTA European Free Trade Association

FRG Federal Republic of Germany (or West Germany)

F female

FIFA Fédération Internationale de Football Association

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

GDR German Democratic Republic (or East Germany)

GIS geographic information system

GSM global system for mobile communications

HCI heavy and chemical industries

ICT information and communications technology

IMF International Monetary Fund

KAIST Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

KMIC Korean Medical Insurance Corporation

KNHANES Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination

SurveyKOTRA Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency

KRISS Korean Research Institute for Sciences and Standards

LG Life’s Good (formerly: Lucky-Goldstar)

Lt Lieutenant

M male

Maj Major

MMO massive multiplayer online

NIEED National Institute for International EducationOECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

POSCO Pohang Iron and Steel Company

PRC People’s Republic of China

QS-THE Quacquarelli Symonds-Times Higher EducationR&B rhythm and blues

R&D research and development

ROK Republic of Korea (or South Korea)

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and

Cultural OrganizationUNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

USAMGIK The United States Army Military Government in

Korea

YMCA Young Men’s Christian Association

04

03 02

06 01

17 18

15

20

23

25 22

26 19

DMZ Province Boundary

21

24

1945 Proposal in Washington to split the Korean peninsula

1945 Moscow conference of foreign ministers

1945–1948 Foreign occupation of Korea

1945–1950 Second land reform

1947 UN resolution to hold free elections in Korea

1964–1972 Labor-intensive export-expansion phase

1965 Normalization treaty with Japan

1967–1971 Second five-year plan

1970 Initiation of the Saemaeul movement

1972–1976 Third five-year plan

1973–1983 Heavy- and chemical-industrialization phase

1977–1981 Fourth five-year plan

1984– Economic-liberalization phase

1982–1986 Fifth five-year plan

1987–1991 Sixth five-year plan

1992–1996 Seventh five-year plan

1993 Hosting of World Expo in Daejeon

2002 Hosting of FIFA world cup (with Japan)

2012 Hosting of World Expo in Yeosu

I originally had the idea of writing a full-research monograph on South Korea as a PhD student of economic history in Germany in the mid-2000s, where I began to research the history of the economy, society, and population of North Korea for my PhD thesis I also started col-lecting data on South Korea at that time and was even presenting some

of my findings on South Korea at international conferences However, I decided to fully dedicate my PhD thesis on North Korea North Korea was then still suffering from the aftermath of the famine that ravaged the country from the mid- to late 1990s, while South Korea’s economy was just beginning to take off I felt a strong scholarly obligation to focus my full attention on the poverty-stricken North first I eventu-ally published two books and numerous papers in journals on North Korea After my PhD graduation, however, I also started publishing several articles that appeared in journals and edited books on South

Korea (see Acknowledgments) Though my last book, The Data Atlas

of South Korea: Demography, Society, Economic Activity, provided a

quantitative analysis of South Korea by plotting a large array of tical data in geographic information system (GIS) maps, it simply was not a scholarly textbook on South Korea

statis-Now, some ten years later, I am finally adding a research monograph

on the corresponding social-science history of the southern part of the Korean peninsula Since I was born in South Korea and have also lived there as both a student and a scholar for nearly ten years, I must confess that I have always had quite a personal motive to investigate

my birth country in more breadth and depth

A few formal remarks are in order Korean and Korea used out this book refer to the Republic of Korea unless otherwise stated The Republic of Korea (ROK) is hereafter named “South Korea,” while the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is referred to as

through-“North Korea.”

Transcriptions from Korean into English in this book generally follow the revised romanization system that has been endorsed by the Korean government since the year 2000 Exceptions to this rule are Korean family names that were transcribed differently by individuals from Korean into English For instance, the frequent Korean family name “KIM” is correctly transcribed as “GIM” in the revised roman-ization system, although almost all native Koreans prefer the former transliteration over the latter for one reason or another I also followed the Korean tradition of providing all Korean surnames first (which I capitalize for clarification) and the given name(s) afterward, such as

“RHEE Syngman.” Note that Korean family names are not capitalized

in the reference list

None of the maps and territories discussed or shown in this book reflect a position held by me on the legal status of any country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers I opted to follow the international standardization of naming territories from the North to South, thus referring to “North and South Korea,” which is different from the order commonly used in South Korea for political reasons

(“South and North Korea,” or nambukhan in Korean).

Numerous international- and national-ranking data are shown throughout the book for comparative purposes To indicate ranking positions in the text, I applied the “number sign” (#) followed by the specific ranking position For instance, #2 indicates the second place

in the ranking When there was ranking data available for more than one year, I opted to show the data of the inaugural ranking I chose the inaugural-ranking data because data for later years were sometimes withheld for commercial reasons, were discontinued for method-ological reasons, or were in the process of being updated but not yet released as of this writing

Although a wealth of quantitative data has been assessed in this work, data are not presented mathematically at all Hence, other than understanding simple percentages and ratios, statistical knowledge

is not required to read this monograph In doing so, I hope that this work will be insightful to both humanists and social scientists who are interested in the Korean peninsula Although this book might not be quite suitable to introduce Western students to modern South Korea,

it does serve to represent a valuable reference work for scholars and advanced students in East Asian studies and perhaps also for govern-ment researchers, journalists, and alike For this purpose, I also added a

“Suggested Readings” section, with a focus on full-length monographs (as opposed to short research articles), at the end of each chapter.Readers who would like to conduct their own research with data presented herein might also want to take a look at appendix 5.1, where

I show underlying statistics to produce certain figures shown out the manuscript Many of the statistics shown in appendix 5.1 stem from my own works or from databases and research documents that are no longer in the public realm Furthermore, readers who would like

through-to access relevant histhrough-torical documents (such as speeches, declarations, and treaties) cited throughout this manuscript will find a useful list showing where to retrieve these documents in appendix 5.2 (Table 5.2.1).Lastly, it should be mentioned that research for this book was completed by November 2015 Afterward, only formal changes, such

as corrections, language editing, literature updates, and formatting, were applied to the manuscript Any views expressed herein are solely

my own and do not necessarily constitute the policy of the publisher

Daniel Jong SchwekendiekThe Academy of East Asian Studies

Sungkyunkwan University

Seoul

Data on militia recruits surveyed during the Joseon dynasty were originally published with James B Lewis from the University of Oxford and JUN Seong Ho from the Academy of Korean Studies (Lewis, Jun, and Schwekendiek 2013).

Parts on the Seodaemun prisoners in Colonial Korea were taken from

a coauthored work with CHOI Seong-Jin from Hanyang University (Choi and Schwekendiek 2009)

Chapters dealing with the demography of South Korea benefited from my previous aforementioned GIS data atlas (Schwekendiek 2014) Some of the emigration data were borrowed from my previous book on the Korean diaspora in the United States and Germany (Schwekendiek 2012) I give special thanks to Tobias Huebinette from the Multicultural Centre, Botkyrka, and to the German Statistical Bureau for sharing some migration data with me Some sections on the immigration to South Korea were drawn from my article on North Korean refugees (Schwekendiek 2010c) I am particularly grateful to PAK Sunyoung from Seoul National University for allowing me to use her refugee data.Some sections that deal with anthropometry and gross nutrition were from my previous work on height in South Korea (Schwekendiek and Jun 2010) as well as on weight and height in the two Koreas (Schwekendiek and Pak 2009) Also special thanks to KIM Soowon from Stanford Uni-versity for sharing some anthropometric data for this research

Some sections on rural development in South Korea draw from my (unpublished) conference paper, “The Saemaul [Saemaeul] Undong in

Biosocial Retrospect and Prospect,” presented at the 2014 UN Public Service Forum Those sections also reemploy research I coauthored with Aravinda Guntupalli from the University of Southampton (Guntupalli and Schwekendiek 2009) Further thanks go to KIM Eunmee from Ewha Womans University for giving me valuable comments on my research

as well as to LEE Jiha from the Saemeaul Globalization Foundation for providing fascinating reading materials I acknowledge PAIK Wooyeal from the Academy of East Asian Studies at Sungkyunkwan University

for helpful discussions on the saemaeul undong in comparative

per-spective with China’s rural-development program

The portion on South Korea’s nation-brand image was influenced by several previous works (Schroeter and Schwekendiek 2015, Schwek-endiek 2014, 2015a, 2015b) Most importantly, I am deeply indebted to

my former PhD student Tim Y M Schroeter for collecting most of the content-analysis data of news media in the United States and Germany I herein used to investigate South Korea’s historic brand image in the West.Certain parts dealing with higher education in South Korea orig-inally stem from my work on the rise of universities in South Korea (Schwekendiek 2015)

Important statistical data dealing with the development and change

of South Korea’s economy were kindly provided by JUN Seong Ho from the Academy of Korean Studies (Jun 2011, 2012)

Further recognition goes to my esteemed colleagues at the Academy

of East Asian Studies at Sungkyunkwan University Having presented some of this book’s research at our monthly seminars, I received valu-able commentary and feedback that improved my research

The manuscript of the book has been carefully copyedited and read both internally and externally by copy editors and two anonymous reviewers Many thanks to Jeanne Nam for improving the language and grammar of an early draft of the manuscript I am grateful to Mary

proof-E Curtis at Transaction for publishing my book and to Allyson Fields and her team at Transaction for their editorial assistance to publish the final version of the manuscript Needless to say, all possible remaining errors are solely my responsibility

Last but not least, I am most grateful to my wife, Jeong-Eun, for her encouragement, patience, and support she has given me over the years Moreover, being an overseas Korean myself, who grew up in Germany and lived in the United States and United Kingdom, I am particularly thankful for her sharing of “non-Western” views from a native Korean’s perspective

Part 1

Historical Development

of Korea

1.1 Korea in Macrohistorical Perspective

In order to review the long-term development that Korea experienced, let us first consider gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which

is by far the most common indicator of living standards in historical research GDP commonly reflects the total value of all goods and services produced in a specific country within a year GDP divided by

a country’s population is commonly accepted as a broad indicator of how well the average person of that country fares

Table 1.1.1 shows the annual GDP per capita in international dollars

of South Korea, select (early industrializing) nations, such as the United States and Japan, Western Europe as a whole, all of Asia with the exclu-sion of Japan, and the world’s average GDP per capita from 1500 to 2010, drawing from Angus Maddison’s groundbreaking works (Bolt and van Zanden 2013; Maddison 1995, 2001, 2003) During the 1500s, living standards in Korea were almost equivalent to Japan and the United States, yet living standards in Western Europe—here represented by twelve nations, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom—were twice as high at that time Even on a global scale or the rest of Asia (both six hundred international dollars), Korean living standards were considerably lower (four hundred international dollars in the 1500s) By 1700, the gap between Korea (four hundred international dollars) and Western Europe (one thousand international dollars) widened compared with the 1500s By 1820, the next point of reference, the United States—the most important colonial offshoot

of Britain and continental Western Europe that pioneered the trial revolution—pulled ahead while world GDP per capita hovered

indus-at 700 internindus-ational dollars, and Korea’s slightly below thindus-at value

(600 international dollars) By the 1900s, the century of tion in the West that triggered the era of high imperialism, Korea (800 international dollars) fell dramatically behind the world average (1,500 international dollars) In a similar vein, the disparity between Korea and the most developed nation at that time, the United States (5,300 international dollars), widened dramatically further, with Americans enjoying six to seven times better living standards than Koreans As Japan began to industrialize and catch up to the developed West, its GDP per capita doubled from 700 international dollars in 1820 to 1,400 international dollars in 1900 By the year 1970, the time when Korea initiated heavy industrialization, living standards in Korea (2,800 inter-national dollars) were still remarkably below the world average (4,100 international dollars) Korea’s gap widened even further when com-pared with the most advanced nations at that time, including the United States (16,700 international dollars and thus almost six timers higher), Western Europe, and Japan (12,200 international dollars and 11,400 international dollars and thus about four times higher, respectively) Though the gaps were still large compared with the most developed nations, Korea surpassed Asia’s average (1,200 international dollars) for the first time in history by 1970, due to rigorous economic planning (chapter 3.1) Consequently, South Korea’s GDP per capita surpassed the world average by the year 2000 Also the gaps compared with the most developed nations in the West as well as Japan began to close by the year 2000 Last but not least, by the year 2010, postindustrialized South Korea’s GDP per capita (21,700 international dollars) was on par with Japan (21,900 international dollars) and Western Europe (21,800 international dollars).

industrializa-The rise of South Korea’s economy in just a few decades has times been described as “the miracle on the Han River” (Jun, 2011)—the Han being the main river running through the capital, Seoul Within

some-a few decsome-ades some-after World Wsome-ar II, South Koresome-a becsome-ame one of the world’s most developed nation—which, from a macrohistorical point

of view, is remarkable as Korea was clearly below the world average and behind Asia’s average for many centuries during premodern times The underlying economic and social factors for this rapid and enormous growth miracle will be explained in a latter section of this work What

is most important to learn from this exercise (table 1.1.1) is that Korea was extremely poor before modern times The country never had any overseas colonies, which was unlike many other seafaring nations that were residing on islands or peninsulas ( Schwekendiek 2012:4–5)

In five thousand years of Korean history, Korea has never invaded another country (Park 1970:280) In the past, given the country’s economic underperformance, Korean culture has never made it into the Western hemisphere, let alone barely outside of the Korean pen-insula The twenty-first century has been the first time in history that Korean influence has reached out to the rest of the world on a massive scale—be it through technological products, such as Korean flat-screen TVs in almost every living room, or cultural products, such as Korean pop (K-pop) culture This spread of K-pop includes the most recent success of the Korean rapper PSY, whose hit, “Gangnam Style,” became the first video to reach one billion views on YouTube in the history of the website.

Table 1.1.1 GDP per capita in the world, 1500–2010.

Note: Rounded values shown Data for the year 1900 pertain to 1913; data for 1970 pertain to 1973 Data for 2000 pertain to 2001 Western Europe is represented by twelve nations: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom Source: Maddison (2003:184, 262), Maddison (1995:238), Bolt and van Zanden (2013).