Appraising institutional challenges in the early stages of development

The traumatic experience of the war period, when Japanification became the watchword of the colonisers and Koreans were controlled so as to suit the needs of the occupier, must also lie on the negative side of the balance, even though it is sometimes considered that this experience forged the national spirit that would later reveal itself in the post-colonial era. [...] On the other hand, the role of university students in the events that led to the resignation of Syngman Rhee in 1960, and later on in the country’s political history, testifies to the importance of universities in the social and political life of the country already in those days. [...] Three periods are traditionally distinguished in the early development of South Korea: the 1950s under the presidency of Syngman Rhee and its import substitution strategy; the 1960s under the military rule of Park Chung Hee and the extremely fast development of light manufacturing exports; and the 1970s under the dictatorship of Park and the ambitious bet on the development of heavy industry. [...] The key to the extraordinary South Korean export drive in the 1960s lay partly in the reform of the exchange rate, partly in the authoritarian management of Park's team, partly in an effective bureaucracy (both in key administrations and in the nationalised banking system), and very much in the dynamism of private enterprises. [...] The reason for this lies in the deep differences in the way institutions functioned in South Korea during the post-war period, during the period of the junta and the first Park terms, and the period after the Yushin constitution, which gave quasi-dictatorial powers to Park.