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The Funny Thing About Korea
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JLarter

Joined: 17 Apr 2006

Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 11:17 pm Post subject:

Scotland's economy would be included with the rest of the UK. It is not its own country when it comes to economic indicators.

Moldy Rutabaga

Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 4:22 am Post subject:

[....] Last edited by Moldy Rutabaga on Thu Jan 02, 2014 7:54 pm; edited 1 time in total

princess

Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: soul of Asia

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 7:55 pm Post subject:

ChimpumCallao wrote:

about the 'strong family values'...

so i guess a population with the conservative estimate of 1-10 (non-conservative 1-6) of the femaile population being h00kers doesn't add up to any social or familial problems.

they must catering solely to the single men in the ROK. and the dirty foreigners, of course.

imho, korea has the WORST family values of any country i've been in. it's very telling when im out for a stroll and am surprised to see a father with their children.

Or, well, I have money problems, so I'll just throw my kids off the balcony or a bridge and then jump behind them. Or, send them to the orphange. Oh my, I will be gigng birth to a girl? I'll just have an abortion then. Also, what about men who spend more time drinking than spending time with their wives?

funkywinkerbeans

Joined: 17 Feb 2006
Location: seoul

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 10:43 pm Post subject:

Korea has made amazingly economic gains in he last 50 years. Hats off to Korea in this regard. From a devastated country to the 11th (?) largest economy in the world.

milarka

Joined: 27 Apr 2006

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:05 am Post subject:

You can't compare South Korea's economy with South Africa's. I won't even begin to explain why. Let's just say South Korea has one.

Zulu

Joined: 28 Apr 2006

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:51 am Post subject: Re: The Funny Thing About Korea

otis wrote:

It's weird. We put it down a lot. But let's face the facts. It's a top ten economy. In fact, it probably has a better economy than places like Scotland, Canada, France, South Africa, etc.

Country US Million $
United States 11,667,515
Japan 4,623,398
Germany 2,714,418
United Kingdom 2,140,898
France 2,002,582
China 1,981,000
Italy 1,672,302
Spain 991,442
Canada 929,764
India 691,876

Not top ten. Hovering around #11 or 12 though. Walmart is bigger than Korea and Samsung for instance, is 60% foreign-owned. Pretty sad as Korea has a lot of people and 5000 years of history. It has made "amazing economic gains" mostly because the west (including Japan) has greatly assisted it economically and technologically. With the exception of maybe China I'd rather live in any of the above-mentioned countries.

When adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita, South Korea sinks to #28.

GDP > PPP (per capita) by country

Rank Countries Amount (top to bottom)

#1 Luxembourg $65,994.27 per capita
#2 Ireland $40,087.90 per capita
#3 United States $39,319.40 per capita
#4 Norway $38,196.17 per capita
#5 Switzerland $33,062.09 per capita
#6 Iceland $32,338.40 per capita
#7 Austria $31,900.55 per capita
#8 Denmark $31,768.96 per capita
#9 Netherlands $31,749.74 per capita
#10 Belgium $31,131.32 per capita
#11 Hong Kong $30,537.76 per capita
#12 United Kingdom $30,314.72 per capita
#13 Canada $30,272.18 per capita
#14 Australia $30,161.37 per capita
#15 Finland $29,770.06 per capita
#16 Japan $29,619.96 per capita
#17 Sweden $29,443.24 per capita
#18 France $28,758.11 per capita
#19 Germany $28,215.45 per capita
#20 Italy $27,905.13 per capita
#21 Singapore $26,711.70 per capita
#22 Israel $26,079.81 per capita
#23 Spain $25,935.13 per capita
#24 New Zealand $23,059.97 per capita
#25 Greece $22,790.59 per capita
#26 Cyprus $22,766.63 per capita
#27 Slovenia $20,635.51 per capita
#28 Korea, South $20,161.88 per capita
#29 Bahrain $19,756.08 per capita

"The UN Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, childbirth, and other factors for countries worldwide."

The Top Ten HDI countries are as follows:

Top 10
1 Norway
2 Iceland
3 Australia
4 Luxembourg
5 Canada
6 Sweden
7 Switzerland
8 Ireland
9 Belgium
10 United States

Korea again comes in way down the list at #28, just below Slovenia. So yes there are worse places to live, but also a whole lot of better places to live too.

Zulu

Joined: 28 Apr 2006

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:29 am Post subject:

Dev wrote:

Go to Canada and you won't see people making things, just pushing paper around and punching keyboards. That's what I mean by a fake economy.

Basic levels of economic development 1) Agriculture >2) manufacturing > 3) Services. The US and Canada have all three, and are rapidly moving into Tier 3.

There's a good reason why we see companies like IBM selling their PC division to Lenovo and so on - the big money is in financial services, insurance and the banking sector.

Korea's dependence on and rejection of foreign manufactured products WILL hit it quite hard when BRIC and regional players like Vietnam come online and offer offer among other 'benefits', lower factory wages and a better working environment for multinationals. It's already happening.

Last edited by Zulu on Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

jajdude

Joined: 18 Jan 2003

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:23 am Post subject:

Anyone been to Luxembourg? Iceland sounds cool.

Mashimaro

Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: location, location

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:39 pm Post subject: Re: The Funny Thing About Korea

otis wrote:

It has a sense of family.

what about the people who have no "family"
to help them when they have hard times.
Who helps them?

Zulu

Joined: 28 Apr 2006

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: The Funny Thing About Korea

Mashimaro wrote:

otis wrote:

It has a sense of family.

what about the people who have no "family"
to help them when they have hard times.
Who helps them?

Exactly. Hence the low HDI rating.

4 months left

Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:46 pm Post subject:

[quote="Dev"]

mindmetoo wrote:

Newbie wrote:

Oh yeah, Korea has a better economy than Canada. Rolling Eyes

I also heard their army is better than America's.

Canada: diversified economy, manufacturing, resources, services.

Korea: Export economy dependent on imported resources and foreign investment.

The OP has no clue.[/quot

Canada's economy is a fake economy. I mean that it's mostly based on exporting raw materials. We don't make anything ourselves any more (unlike Korea which still makes a lot of things). The textile industry has been K-Oed by China and even Canadian Tire has its famous hardware products made in China now. The only think that keeps people employed is the service industry. Go to Canada and you won't see people making things, just pushing paper around and punching keyboards. That's what I mean by a fake economy. People not doing anything that makes a difference, but still earning a paycheck.

Wow, a lot of misinformation in this post. Yes Korea has come a long way in a short time. Even though the economy is 11th the per capita income ranks somewhere in the 40 - 50 range. The large Chaebols - Hyundai, Samsung, etc account for a huge part of the economy. There is a lack of small and medium sized businesses here. Let's not forget all the countries who have given a huge amount of aid and subsidies (especially the U.S. and especially in the auto industry - foreign cars make up about 2-3% of the total # of cars in Korea because of high tariffs.

Have you been reading the papers about Korea's continous decline as a market where foreign companies do not want to do business? Cell phone makers share continue to decline, imported cars are expected to increase yearly as tariffs gradually decrease (I can see this being adjusted if Koreans start to buy too many foreign cars), labour unions continue to be a hinderance to foreign companies.

As far as the family unit being stronger in Korea, what a joke. Prostitution, alcoholism, abuse and neglect will continue and be swept under the carpet as Koreans believe their family relationship is the best. The main reason they believe this is because parents baby their children paying all expenses. Sure other countries families have problems as well but I'm glad I didn't grow up here.

Fake economy???? Maybe you should do some research. Manufacturing in advanced economies decrease as products can be made cheaper elsewhere. Of course less goods are manufactured and service industries are more prevalent - thats ECON 101 my friend.

Canada still produces many things and is a leader in many technological fields. Many of those fields are related to the natural resource industry - oil, gas, mining. It has one of the best banking systems in the world, a great education system (that is if you want to learn, if you don't want to learn, it is possible to get a good job without a high education), not a huge IT sector but still world class along with innovation and research. Of course Canada greatly benefits from being next to the US but you must take advantage of your strengths as Korea has by copying technology from other countries. Yes taxes are too high but it is a big country with a small population.

Korea is a good place to save money, remember most teachers don't pay rent, don't have a car (don't pay for gas, repairs and insurance) and the cost of living is cheap. It is relatively safe but I have not felt any more or less safe here than I did in Canada or when I lived in Sao Paulo Brazil which is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Other than the money, Korea really has little to offer.

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