The Korean Development Strategy: Trajectories of the Korean Economic Development, 1961~2010

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to explore the Korean development strategy in the context of trajectories of the economic development from 1961 to 2010. The fast and high growth in the period of 1961 and 2010 resulted from the ‘export-oriented industrialization’ through a combination of ‘mass production-mass exports’ and ‘(relatively)high productivity-low wages’ up to the late 1980s, a mixture of ‘mass production-mass exports’ and ‘(relatively) high productivity-high wages’ to the late 1990s, and a combination of the reformation of public and private sectors for overcoming the Korean financial crisis and the gradual improvement of the marketization and social safety net since 2000. With respect to this model of development, the global and national modes of regulation were established. Along with the formation of endogenous forces (as the national mode of regulation), that of exogenous forces (as the global mode of regulation) are the important rules of the game at the global level, which lead and stabilize the process of accumulation by the export-led industrialization in Korea. In this respect, the establishment of global modes of regulation is led by exogenous forces such as trade regulations, exchange rates,global-Korean industrial relations, and global regulations of loans to developing countries. On the other hand, the national modes of regulation are formed by endogenous forces such as the triangular relationship of the state, capital and labor.