The Steel Industry in South Korea

Divided after World War II roughly along the 38th parallel, South Korea occupies the southern half of the peninsula. Seoul is the capital and biggest city, with about eleven million people. The population of the country is 43 million (versus 22 million in the North)(World Almanac, 1993).

Known as the "hermit kingdom" historically, it was nominally independent but heavily influenced by China in more modern times. In 1895, however, after the Sino-Japanese War, Japan became the dominant influence in the country, resulting in formal annexation in 1910 (Handbook of Korea, 1987). Only after World War II did the peninsula gain formal independence, but it was divided into two separate countries, South Korea and North Korea, as a result of occupation by US and USSR forces respectively. In the, Cold War that followed, South Korea has been pro-Western and capitalistic while the North has been Communist.

In 1950 Nunder Kim Il Sung, Moscow's ch

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a textbook case for the Third World on how to achieve economic "takeoff" out of the poverty and misery of underdevelopment. Another crucial factor in South Korea's economic development is the stabilization of population growth (Hoare, 1988). At .9 percent, the rate is low and comparable to most developed countries, like Japan and Western Europe (but not the US where immigration is a major factor). However, most importantly, the birth rate has declined precipitously since 1962, when the government started officially promoting family planning and contraception (e.g., from an average of 6.1 children per child-bearing woman in 1960 to less than 2.0 in 1986). South Korea (like Japan) exemplifies how a traditional society that previously believed in a maximum of children, now emphasizes quality of life for smaller quantities of children. Thus, South Korea's official government promotion of family planning provides another key paradigm for the Third World -- without it, economic development is impossible. Another major characteristic of the South Korean economy is the presents of "chaebols," which are giant conglomerates analogous to Japan's "zaibatsus" (Hoare, 1988). Highly diversified, they tend to be family-run and have a c
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Approximate Word count = 2329
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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