The best way to imagine South Korea is to simply think of an amazing economic miracle that is beyond imagination — the so-called “Miracle on the Han River” — because of its rapid transformation.

Korea — its official name is Daehan Minguk, the Republic of the Great Han People, coined by Harvard and Princeton-educated Syngman Rhee, its first democratically elected president — is a sight to behold, like a phoenix that has risen from the utter devastation wrought by the Korean civil war a mere 70 years ago.

Today’s South Korea is a highly industrialized manufacturing and export-oriented powerhouse boasting familiar household names such as Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, Lotte, LG, and global leadership in shipbuilding, steel, automobiles, semi-conductors, and electronic goods; with an ultra-modern, high-rise dotted capital, Seoul, connected to the rest of the country via an extensive high-speed railroad, subways, and wide-lane expressways; lightning quick nationwide internet and broadband connectivity (202/212 mobile/broadband speed, respectively, vs. Philippines’ 35/71, China’s 165/196, USA’s 110/203); and the world’s 10th largest GDP with a GDP per capita of $33,643 as of 2022 (vs. Philippines’ $3,623, USA’s $62,867, China’s $11,560).

Of course, the million won (Korea’s currency) question is: how did South Korea pull it off?

For starters, the US support after the North and South face-off was massive. A quick Google search reveals that the US poured $12 billion in financial aid into South Korea from 1946 to 1976. Reportedly, only South Vietnam and Israel received more on a per capita basis, and, for perspective, during this same period, only $6.85 billion was given to Africa while the whole of the US’ next-door neighbor, Latin America, received $14.89 billion. The US aid, however, came in the form of food and reconstruction materials but not for long-term development — a point of contention with the US for Rhee, who preferred to prioritize industrialization over a consumption-driven thrust for economic development. Rhee believed this self-serving approach of the US was tantamount to a different form of colonization. The US-imposed policy of importing goods, of course, won out.

Unfortunately, like any dream-like story, warts are inevitable. For Korea, without universal good governance guideposts in the 1950s to go by, the age-old malady of corruption and the desire to remain perpetually in power took hold.

Under threat of losing power, Rhee’s farcical democracy turned autocratic through vote buying and the violent coercion of voters but always with some modicum of democracy by allowing token opposition even as popular oppositionists like Kim Gu and Cho Bong-am were either assassinated or arrested, prosecuted, and executed for being pro-Communist.

Import quotas were dispensed to favored businessmen, the forerunners of today’s chaebols, who, in turn, dutifully carried out Rhee’s wishes. Rhee’s hold on Korea finally petered out in March 1960 after police fired on a massive demonstration protesting the death of a young demonstrator, killing 125 protesters. Rhee, aided by the US, fled to Hawaii to live out the remainder of his life in exile.

Hmm… doesn’t Rhee’s story sound eerily familiar?

Korea’s economic miracle, however, can probably be best attributed to the succeeding strong, autocratic but benevolent leaders such as Park Chung Hee and Chun Doo-hwan, who both grabbed power through coups d’etat from democratically elected Roh Tae-woo, Kim Dae-Jung, and Kim Young-sam. All had envisioned economic development through massive investments in industrialization and export-oriented industries facilitated by government-induced overvalued currency, cheap money, hand-in-hand with active partnerships with the chaebols.

The story of Korea’s economic miracle will not be complete without a salute to the Korean populace’s grit, willingness to sacrifice, and formidable determination for a better life. Attributable, it is said, to their adherence to hierarchical Confucianism of deferential obeisance to superiors as a social norm and Buddhist self-negation-oriented philosophies.

Are there lessons in Korea’s miracle story to be learned for all of us?

Until next week… OBF!

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