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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2003 5:11 am Post subject: |
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| lpcool wrote: |
Beaver, I personally don't know much about this issue, but I don't know if this assessment of Park captures the complexity of him and his time.
Incidentally, what is your understanding of his "economic credits"? |
It's not as full as it should be. He's given credit for getting the Korean economy going by investing foreign aid in infrastructure (the United States in particular gave 12-14 billion dollars in aid which covered 70% of Korea's military costs and 50% of the civil budget). He made a couple of lucky choices, such as creating Posco (dumb idea on the surface, no ore to speak of in South Korea and no nearby trading countries with much ore either -- but it worked), and got money from Japan to fund Hyundai shipbuilding company, which, through government subsidies, put other shipbuilding companies in other countries out of business (which worked well because now Hyundai doesn't get shipbuilding subsidies and they're the biggest shipbuilding company in the world).
I had this discussion again on the weekend. Even if I believed that he was the only person who could have created Korea's economic success, which I don't, and even if I could accept that under his dictatorship it was necessary to jail so many people, I cannot accept that a man who allowed torture (such as sending electricity through a man's *beep* which not only creates pain, it causes impotence) and murder can be a great man in the overall view of things. |
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