nd social progress may be in question because of the economic uncertainties facing the nation and the possibility that further economic liberalization will retard and to some extent conflict with further political and social advances.
South Korea's progress compares favorably with the experience of other newly industrializing nations (NICs) in Latin America and elsewhere in the Third World, but it developed out of the unique conditions present in South Korea and is not necessarily a model for other nations to follow. In fact, the prospects for economic and political modernization in South Korea are somewhat problematical because of the imbalances in its pattern of economic development, the volatile nature of South Korea politics and the weaknesses of some of its political institutions.
After Japan annexed Korea in 1910, it ruled the former feudal Hermit Kingdom with an iron fist, suppressing ruthlessly all vestiges of political opposition or dissent and Korean nationalism. The Japanese colonial regime allied itself with the most conservative elements in the country, including large landholders, which produced widespread farm tenancy and rural discontent. Since South Korea was a major source of rice for Japan, the Japanese occupation, according to Haggard & Moon (1993), also improved agricultural productivity, "expanded Korea's infrastructure . . . and established the beginnings of modern capitalist enterprises" (p. 59). The Japanese also installed the rudiments of a modern state bureaucracy.
American Occupation and Rule by Rhee
After the Korean peninsula was divided at the 38th Parallel in 1945, South Korea found itself with little industry, almost all of which was in North Korea, and no natural resources other than its people and its agriculture. Because of Cold War politics and their ignorance of political conditions in Korea, the Americans basically supported the creation of a right-wing regime under Rhee, perpetuatin...