SOUTH KOREA GLOBALIZATION IMPACT
SOUTH KOREA GLOBALIZATION IMPACT
Executive Summary: The end of World War II, and the subsequent divide of the Republic of Korea, marked the beginning of South Korea as a country. The first few years of its existence as a country were far from ideal. With help from the United States and the UN, South Korea was rehabilitated and pointed in the right direction. South Korea received financial aid, military assistance and trading partners that would prove to be extremely valuable in its efforts to become a self-sustaining successful country. South Korea began as an autocratic country and over the years moved toward becoming fully democratic. Although the country is now under democratic rule, it is still considered to lack freedom from corruption. Although business freedom is above global average, trade freedoms and fiscal freedom, two factors controlled directly by the government, are below global average. Early leaders of South Korea pushed the country toward industry and manufacturing, away from the prior focus of agriculture. Today, the economy in South Korea is based on the technology industry, along with strong competitors in the automotive and shipbuilding industries. The 10 largest companies in South Korea make up 80 percent of the countries GDP (Eun-Jung, 2012). Exports remain a vital part of the South Korean, making up 53% of their economy (Naidu-Ghelani, 2012). Despite a few years of economic turn down, South Korea has the 15th largest GDP in the world and maintains a trade surplus of 28.5 billion US dollars in 2012, down from 41.2 billion in 2010 (Ningzhu, 2013). The culture of South Korea is influenced by many variables. Prior to the division of the Republic of Korea, the area that is now South Korea was occupied by Japanese rule. As expected, the cultures of Japan and neighboring Asian countries have had an effect on the cultural development of South Korea. Western Cultures have also had an effect on
Executive Summary: The end of World War II, and the subsequent divide of the Republic of Korea, marked the beginning of South Korea as a country. The first few years of its existence as a country were far from ideal. With help from the United States and the UN, South Korea was rehabilitated and pointed in the right direction. South Korea received financial aid, military assistance and trading partners that would prove to be extremely valuable in its efforts to become a self-sustaining successful country. South Korea began as an autocratic country and over the years moved toward becoming fully democratic. Although the country is now under democratic rule, it is still considered to lack freedom from corruption. Although business freedom is above global average, trade freedoms and fiscal freedom, two factors controlled directly by the government, are below global average. Early leaders of South Korea pushed the country toward industry and manufacturing, away from the prior focus of agriculture. Today, the economy in South Korea is based on the technology industry, along with strong competitors in the automotive and shipbuilding industries. The 10 largest companies in South Korea make up 80 percent of the countries GDP (Eun-Jung, 2012). Exports remain a vital part of the South Korean, making up 53% of their economy (Naidu-Ghelani, 2012). Despite a few years of economic turn down, South Korea has the 15th largest GDP in the world and maintains a trade surplus of 28.5 billion US dollars in 2012, down from 41.2 billion in 2010 (Ningzhu, 2013). The culture of South Korea is influenced by many variables. Prior to the division of the Republic of Korea, the area that is now South Korea was occupied by Japanese rule. As expected, the cultures of Japan and neighboring Asian countries have had an effect on the cultural development of South Korea. Western Cultures have also had an effect on
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