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South Korean Economy at the Crossroads: Structure Issues under External Pressure – An Essay from a Law and Development Perspective

  • Yong-Shik Lee EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 7. September 2019

Abstract

South Korea is one of the most successful economic development cases in history. This country, stricken with crushing poverty and torn by a disastrous war two generations ago, rose from the ashes of the war and underwent unprecedented economic development for over three decades. By the mid-1990s, South Korea had built an advanced economy with world-class industries and also achieved a liberal democracy based on the rule of law. Since its 1997 financial crisis, however, Korea’s economic growth has been continually slowing down with widening income gaps among its populations. The Korean economy has also faced increasing external pressure, which has recently been dramatized by Japan’s export restraint measures on some of the key materials used to produce semiconductors, one of the most important export products for the Korean economy. This note discusses structural issues in the Korean economy, such as its over-dependency on a small number of conglomerates (“chaebols”) and the weakness of its SMEs, which cause the Korean economy to slow down and render the economy vulnerable to external pressure. This note examines these issues from a legal and institutional perspective and offers proposals to remedy some of the problems in the Korean economy.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Professor Randall G. Holcombe (Florida State University), Prof. Hans-Bernd Schäfer (Bucerius Law School), and the anonymous interviewees from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Republic of Korea); Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA); Korea Venture Investment Corporation (KVIC); Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT); Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCC); and European Chamber of Commerce in Korea, for insightful comments. The author also expresses thanks to his assistant, Ms Annelie Stallings, for her editorial work on this essay.

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Published Online: 2019-09-07
Published in Print: 2019-10-25

© 2019 Law and Development Review

Heruntergeladen am 3.2.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ldr-2019-0063/pdf
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