Economic Life of South Korea

Economic Life of South Korea

Money was invented to help people live more easily and comfortably. However, as money and societies were developed, needless power was given to it. Sometimes it controls people’s lives and countries, even though it is a just one of the tools people use in their lives. It affects the economy of South Korea greatly. Money thoroughly gave good effect on economic growth in the country. However, it had to suffer from economic hard times, and to find solutions to overcome them because of the powerful tool.

South Korea has been continuing economic growth despite hardships. It became an independent country in 1950’s from Japan, and had to go through tough economic situations in 1950’s. Thus, the country had to be helped by U.S. and others, and it was a poor agricultural nation in the period. In 1960’s, the government began to build the basis for an industrial country. Many factories of cement, metal, and oil started to be built; so many people could get jobs. There were no more citizens who were suffered from hunger. South Korea became an industrial country in 1970’s and became to have freeways, trains, and ports. Also, people achieved the goal of getting income of $10 billion from exporting. Nowadays, the main exports are cars, ships, semi-conductors, computers, and other electronic products. South Korea ranks number one of producing of semi-conductors in the world.

South Korea had to suffer from economic hardship like the International Monetary Funds (IMF) crisis. This was happened in 1997,and it was the biggest economic chaos in South Korea. The turmoil had not come suddenly since the economy had been unstable for fifteen years at that time. At the time the rate of growth was only 6.7 percent, so the IMF could not trust South Korea to borrow their money. Finally, the financial chaos caused so many bankruptcies of large and small companies, currency crisis, international debt, and high interest rates. The turmoil was the most serious hardship that South Korea faced when they tired to rebuild their economy and develop their business. The years of IMF crisis were the darkest period of economy life of the country.

South Korea did not give up and found ways to take money back home. During the financial tumult, all the Koreans suffered seriously, so they had to work together to save their country. One of the solutions that they found was the “Collecting Gold Movement.” All the citizens of Korea brought their gold out and donated them to the country. People donated their jewelry and even their wedding gifts. So, 3.5 million people participated, and could collect $21,003,000. Companies decreased workers’ wages, and the government helped companies to do business freely to increase profit from exports, deleting some legal rules that restrained them. The citizens, companies, and government worked together to find solutions and to overcome their economic hardships. 3

South Korea was a poor country four decades ago. After the independence, they worked hard to achieve economic stability. Even though the nation had to face the financial crisis in 1997, they found solutions to rebuild the economy. In 2004, it became a member of the “Trillion Dollar Club” of world. Money is just a tool, which makes people live more comfortably, but the existence of money is inconsistent. Therefore, the amount of money that people have right now is not important. The poor have to work harder to earn money, and the rich have to work harder to keep their money. However, the most important fact is money is not the most powerful dominance and cannot control people, since it is a just tool that people made and control.


In Young(Anna) Hwang