199 lines
9.1 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
9.1 KiB
Plaintext
The information in this file was recently published in FREEDOM -
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the fortnightly anarchist journal published by FREEDOM PRESS:
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FREEDOM PRESS (IN ANGEL ALLEY) 84B WHITECHAPEL HIGH STREET,
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LONDON E1 7QX GREAT BRITAIN
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Do write for a sample copy or for a copy of our booklist of
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publications. We will be putting more of this information out so
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watch this spot...
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FOCUS ON...
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SOUTH KOREA
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South Korea has often been held up as a successful example of
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what can be achieved by the New World Economy. With this issue we
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turn our FOCUS... on South Korea to look at some of the issues
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raised...
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As South Korea contemplates a future of integration into the
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New World Economy the population is sparing some time to take at
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glance over its shoulder at its past. Its lessons do not always
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make the South Koreans keen to follow their President, Kim Young
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Sam, who is described in the west as a comfortable winner in the
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last elections. He got 42% of the vote which was actually cast -
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somewhat similar to a Mrs Thatcher - and like her he has never
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enjoyed widespread popular support but rather the support of
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sectional interests which, in the Korean context, means from the
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emmerging urban middle classes.
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The rest are not so keen on Kim Young Sam's flirtations with
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global capitalism. Indeed one recent survey found that almost
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half of all South Koreans oppose direct foreign investment in the
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country, while two thirds were against the lowering of trade
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barriers.
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A recent report by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy
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suggested that South Korea ...
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was the most nationalistic country in Asia was the most
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bureaucratic after China and Indonesia had an economy dominated
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by cartels and state-owned companies discriminated more than any
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other nation against foreign investment was the most
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protectionist nation in Asia had the highest potential for labour
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unrest had greater potential for social unrest even than China
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This, as we say, reflects a certain historical awareness of the
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people. Korea has never fully escaped the legacy it inherited
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when it went into almost self-imposed exile nearly 400 years ago
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after repeated invasions by Manchus and the Japanese. This earnt
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it the nickname of the Hermit Kingdom and it was one of the last
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countries to establish contact with the west. All this can of
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course be seen still in North Korea where the paranoid regime of
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Pyongyang has successfully perverted the traditional Korean
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principle of juche or self-reliance.
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South Korea, meanwhile, has suffered another Japanese invasion
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but of a slightly different kind. Over 90% of South Korean
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exports of electronic equipment, for example, are produced by
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affiliates of Japanese countries. Here we should remember that
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the most important industries involved in the globalisation of
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economic activity and the new International Division of Labour -
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the hallmark of capitalism this end of the twentieth century -
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are often in the electronics sector, (also we should mention
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textiles and clothing in this category, important industries in
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other countries in the region). These are industries where
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profits are hard to maintain through increases in technological
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inputs but relatively easy to increase by substituting low wage
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for high-way labour - heard it before? Is Korea so special? Not
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at all. This means that the 'manufacturing' undertaken in
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peripheral settings by transnational corporations is more often
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than not merely assembly, with the manufacture of components that
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require higher levels of skill and/or technology - particularly
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in the area of research and development -being undertaken in core
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nations - albeit in settings that are often outside traditional
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manufacturing regions - silicon chip valleys and the like. As we
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say there nothing new in all this. The story we saw of the
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maquiladoras in Mexico (see Freedom Vol 55 No.3) is thus seen
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to be repeated here. South Korea's development miracle is in
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large part the same old story of a country becoming a glorified
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factory of foreign TNCs. But also, as we so often find when
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development is so strongly lopsided towards one industrial
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sector, uneven development is the outcome (again check out how
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happy the peasants in Mexico are at the moment). Because the
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basis of economic growth has been in the manufacturing sector,
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the larger industrial cities and the highly urbanised provinces
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have experienced relatively high levels of economic performance.
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Rural incomes in South Korea have been supported through price-
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support subsidies - not a very endearing notion for those 'free'
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market apologists - but rural incomes and per capita consumption
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remain at less than half those of towns and cities. It is in the
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largest cities and their metropolitan regions, however, where
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living standerds are, in many respects, highest. It is here that
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both public and private investment have been most noticeable. The
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result is that the cities of Saoul, Incheon, and Anyang and the
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surrounding province of Gyeonggi, in the Northwestern corner of
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the country, constitute a clear 'core' of prosperity with a
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'fragmented periphery' that corresponds to the highland regions
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of the south and northeast. Highlighting these factors somewhat
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are some statistics we can find reported in a new book by Robert
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E. Bedeski - an Australian based academic. We give the following
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extract as a taste of some of the statistics:
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Demographic change has also been tranforming Korean society. In
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the period since establishment of the Republic, there has been a
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major migration to the cities in the search for employment and
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higher living standards. During 1988, for example, rural
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populations decreased by 6.4%. The flow to the cities has made
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farms an increasingly male domain, as women and young persons go
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to jobs in the urban areas.
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According to the 1985 census... South Korea had a population of
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40,448,486 and was the world's fourth most densely populated
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country, with 408 persons per square kilometre. Nearly a quarter
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of the population resided in the greater Seoul area... As South
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Korea modernises, the population structure changes, and living
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standards have improved. Two major results of change have been
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the expansion of the urbanised population, and the growth of an
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urban middle class. In 1990, the rural population was 25.6 % of
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the total, compared with 72% in 1960. Because of the mountanous
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terrain, only 21.7% of the total land area is under cultivation,
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and the amount available for farming becomes less every year as
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more urbanised and industrial sites are created...
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Such movements towards the urban centres have the usual
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predictable consequences:
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With 40% of the nation's population in the greater Seoul area,
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the housing crunch was becoming serious. At the end of 1991,
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there were 10,580,000 family units in 7,870,000 housing units,
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indicating that over a quarter of Korean families were sharing
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their units with another family. Crowding was almost entirely an
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urban phenomenon.
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South Korea has been presented as The Jewel in the Crown of
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NICs (New Industrial Countries) and is pointed to as a shining
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example of successful development - that it development in the
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mirror image of the core industrial countries. So much so that it
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hopes next year to become the first Asian member of the OECD. In
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this light Bedeski's book makes for an interesting read. All the
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more so as he is sympathetic, in many ways, to the apologists for
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South Korea. Certainly some of the economic statistics look
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impressive: GDP per capita in the late 60s was around $200. By
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1992 this had risen to $7000. But as the author also makes clear
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in this academic and objective analysis the problem with such
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averaging of figures is not what they show but what they don't
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show.
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For example in the light of such statistics South Korea is
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often presented as having relatively equitable income
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distribution. However, the book calls this sharply into question:
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Nearly one-fifth of the population holds 42.2% of national
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income... the governments 1990 budget was seen by many as
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worsening the wealth distribution problem... At the lower end of
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society, it is estimated that over three million people live in
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poverty. The economic planning board reported that 7.7% of the
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entire population receive significant public assistance.
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Indeed one can begin to see why South Korea might hope to join
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the OECD next year in this light. Such damming figures would
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stand up well in comparison with almost any European member
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State: inequitable distribution of wealth; unacceptable levels of
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poverty (usually fuelled by high levels of unemployment) and the
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new beast: stagflation - impossible according to economic theory
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but there for all to see. Indeed stagflation turns out to be the
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only real miracle capitalism has to offer. Successful economies
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in capitalist terms require a radical redefinition of 'success'.
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Financial Times 23 June 94 The Transformation of South Korea by
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Robert E. Bedeski. Published by Routledge.
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