The dark side of the miracle of Asian economic growth
The current crisis in South Korea exemplifies the problems that have arisen as development was propelled by close ties forged between the state and business
Corruption and collusion seem inevitably to go hand in hand with development and nation-building in Asia. They are the dark side of the region’s economic miracles. There is perhaps no better illustration of that than the history of the tragic Park family and the rise of the chaebols in South Korea.
General Park Chung-hee, the dictator credited with laying the foundations for the country to become a global economic powerhouse, also helped create the chaebols – “wealth clans” who have defined
Korea’s economic and political landscape for decades and continue to do so.
The rich irony is that Park Geun-hye is being implicated in the kind of collusion whose history dates back long before she even entered politics. The culture of close ties between state and business runs deep in Korea, and goes back to the young Lee’s grandfather, Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, and Park’s father.