Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Wai Mian]

Chalmers Johnson in his book "Japan" identified the social policy involved in the creation of the developmental state, a state the relies on infant industry protection, import substitution, heavy state intervention, high exports, and low FDI, a system copied by Korea and Taiwan. All three were given assurances by the US that if they moved away from the industries where they held comparative advantage in the primary sector into high wage and high-value added industries, they would have a market in the US as long as they remained loyal allies in the Cold War to form necklace around the Chinese.

One of the features of the East Asian developmental state was a campaign to convince the population that the reason for their success was the special and unique nature of the native culture, the laziness of the Americans, and the high ethical character of the nation's employees--in short, anything to convince the population of how special they were and not reveal what a huge hand the government and geography had in shaping the economy and society.

So the next time you hear it's "Korean culture", be a little wary. What they mean to say is "this is good for exports".

[v88]

got a reference for this? Korea that is.

You are missing a little something though. This occurred in a relatively short time under a dictatorship after 40 years of Japanese rule and a rather nasty war. Korea's strong sense of identity did help them get past a rather low state in the nation's history and brought them out of a literal cultural black hole. Exactly what Korean culture is and what has been manufactured by the state is something to ponder. Modern Korea has slammed full throttle into modernity and consumerism with little thought to it's past except within specific areas the government protected for the sake of national pride. Obviously, yes, much of this 'nationalism' and 'cultural pride' does support rather unquestioning consumption and production of Korean products by the locals. However, I think in many cases this is national pride centered on culture but not the culture itself. A lot of Korean culture is just that, culture, and not some disguise for industrial growth. I don't think business men in Korea think of 'bali bali' as truly a Korean cultural trait. They are likely to say this is today's Korean culture while referring to something like 'pan-sori" or the Korean Hanoak as truly Korean, despite the fact that this sort of thing has been relatively abandoned by the masses in favour of k-pop and apartment buildings.

In this respect, it's not much different than the North American idea of bigger is better, or the endless need to live in sprawling suburbs. These are not really part of the traditional culture of the land even though they play a strong role in today's modern North American 'culture'. Oddly, we lie to ourselves by putting traditional facades on our homes. We play into the hands of corporations who build our suburbs and make the cars that access them. We live in just as big a lie.

[Wai Mian]

[v88]

True, Koreans do defend almost any action with the tag line "This is Korean culture." I whole heartedly agree that this is likely a result of Park Chun-hee.

I was merely pointing out that we North Americans are also duped even though we may not defend our suburbs with the notion of it being 'our culture'. It is a culture in many texts...sociology, geography and even planning texts refer to it as a culture.

After all is said and done though, we are all duped by consumerism.

I totally agree with your last statement.

[crossmr]

I find Americans or Canadians would be more likely to say "that's just the way things are done" or "That's how we do it around here" rather than say "That's American culture" it boils down to the same thing.

[Wai Mian]

[crossmr]

[Wai Mian]

http://search.naver.com/search.naver?sm=tab_hty&where=nexearch&query=%C7%D1%B1%B9%B9%AE%C8%AD&x=0&y=0

보세요! Internet searches mean squat.

Actually you're proving my point. I'm not saying there's not reasons, I'm saying those reasons lead to 'culture' being used in an overly defensive and obfuscative manner.

[crossmr]

[Wai Mian]

[liveinkorea316]

Korea was pretty much xenophobic and distrustful of foreigners for hundreds of years before Park Chung Hee came along.

Every country pursues policies which benefit their own population. It's nothing new. They are a very open economy. ROK is a member of the WTO which means there are few barriers to foreign firms who want to sell things there or set up shop.

Western countries are less likely to be xenophobic but remember it was Western countries who basically dominated the world for the last 300 years. They have much less reason to be.

Korea is small on the world stage. It is a unique culture. It has alot to protect.

[Wai Mian]

[Man on Street]

[liveinkorea316]

Selling things and setting up shop is not the same as buying control of foreign firms or land. Even most Western Governments envoke national Protection Legislation powers to prevent firms or land being sold into overseas ownership.

The WTO does not mandate rules for foreign ownership of firms nor tell a country how its securities laws must operate. The WTO is about letting businesses freely compete in other countries, not let them buy firms in other countries.

I could bring up numerous examples of when recently Governments in western countries blocked transactions for the sake of National protection in the face of a foreign takeover of a local firm.

You make it sound like there is something underhanded in the way the japanese and Korean governments do business. Maybe, but no more than other countries. The USA is still very protectionist. The EU has a mountain of subsidies to dismantle before any future WTO agreements can be reached. The Koreans and Japanese are simply trying to do the best for their people - that is what their government is elected remember. Not to serve the people of other countries but to serve their own exclusively.

Next you are going to say it is horrible for a company to make a profit and they should all be trying to care for others before their shareholders.

Export-focussed policies are not evil. Countries set their levels of protection according to their trade priorities and the resources they have. Western countries let in a lot of foreign manufactured goods because it is cheaper and better for their consumers. There is a mountain of literature to support countries that open up and accept imports even when their trading partners don't.

You can even see some of the downsides in Korea. Their population is not exposed to the wide variety of products and input as those in the West. It has an effect on the lifestyles of consumers and also the competitiveness of the country. It is widely acknowledged the Korean universities punch far below their weight internationally. It is also no secret that there are very very few foreign academics working in South Korea. Until Koreans accept that hiring in Universities should be based on merit and scholarship alone then they will continue to lag international standards for academics.

That is just one of many examples.

[Wai Mian]

I'm not saying that developmental policies are good for the average people in those countries, in fact it usually makes things worse. Japanese households spend one-third of their income just on food, for example.

Nor do I think it's 'evil', any country will get away with whatever they can when it comes to trade. Luckily for J/K/T, they had a Cold War going on and a US gov't that was willing to trade their UN votes and bases for preferential export statuses for countries in American markets, even to the point where the Dept of Defense admitted in the 1980s it didn't know what kind of technology was in their ballistic missiles, as they were trade secrets of the Japanese semi conductor industry.

Like I said it's nice work if you can get it, I don't expect any country to turn down such a deal. It's just a little annoying to hear it described as "culture". What about Japanese/Korean culture makes people OK with buying a Nissan/Hyundai for 20% more than they'd pay in the US?