Veronica G.

Soberano

BSED 1C

Country: South Korea

1. The country’s economic policies

With the government focusing on job creation and welfare expansion, South Korea falls into
the upper-middle ranks (rank 14) with regard to economic policy. Its score on this measure
has declined by 0.1 point relative to 2014.

While growth rates have been moderate and stable in recent years, the rate declined to 2.7%
in 2018. Current account surpluses have been high. The central bank supported the fiscal
expansion with interest-rate cuts. The minimum wage has increased by nearly 11%, but the
government has promised to limit future increases.

General unemployment rates remain very low and stable at just 3.1%, but the youth
unemployment rate is considerably higher. The Moon government has sought to reduce share
of non-regular jobs; however, the number of non-regular workers in fact increased in 2019,
hitting a record of 36% of all salaried workers.

Tax rates are low. The overall tax base is narrow, and redistributive effects are weak. The
government ran a primary surplus of almost 2% of GDP during the review period. Public
debt is moderate and sustainable at the national level, but an increasing number of local
governments and public enterprises are struggling due to insufficient revenues. R&D
expenditures are very substantial.

2. The country’s foreign and/or diplomatic policies

Six decades after the Korean War, South Korea has attained economic development and
global relevance. The country remains a strong US ally in a region with a possibly nuclear-
armed North Korea and potentially destabilizing China-Japan rivalry. Democratization
diversified the stakeholders and politics behind South Korean foreign policy. Serious divides
exist between conservatives, who tend to focus on relative power balances, and progressives,
who promote economic interdependence, institution building, and identity formation as a
means to promote security cooperation. Despite fierce domestic debates, and notable
international contributions as a middle power, options for Korean diplomacy remain
constrained by the structural considerations of dealing with larger neighbors and a divided
peninsula. Seoul is challenged to address widening economic inequality while allocating
adequate resources for South Korea’s rising international profile and preparing for the gamut
of contingencies—from conflict to peaceful reunification—with North Korea.

3. Membership of the country to International Organization

 4. Determine if the country you have choses is part of the global north or global south

- The South Korea is included to global north.

5. The country’s condition under globalization and regionalism

GLOBALIZATION

South Korea today is Asia’s fourth largest and the world’s 15th largest economy and is the
world’s ninth largest trading country. South Korea has grown into a global hub of free trade with
full access to two-thirds of the world’s markets, representing about half the global population.”

Globalization has been a huge factor in South Korea’s growth and economic success. Modern
South Korea is a leader in many industries, from technology and automobiles to music and
entertainment.
According to the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Korea’s national
competitiveness was ranked 22nd among 59 countries in 2011, its highest standing ever. This
ranking has gone up for the past three years.

In regards to technology, South Korean corporate giant Samsung is supporting the country’s
globalization with its partnerships abroad. Last year, Samsung announced collaboration plans
with Dreamworks Animation in the U.S. to jointly produce 3-D televisions.

Additionally, South Korea, which once looked up to the success of high technology in Silicon
Valley, is now the fastest country to complete a high-speed communications network
infrastructure.

Another prime area of South Korea’s growth and globalization can be seen in the automobile
sector, particularly in the case of Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Motors. Last year,
Hyundai-Kia surpassed Toyota as the biggest Asian carmaker in Europe. This year, the company
saw record growth and market shares in the North American market.

While these companies are proving their great success abroad, globalization in the domestic
market has not yet reached its full potential. There is still a passive view that international
competition would greatly hurt local businesses. Some opinions even express that Korean
companies fall short of global standards and would experience difficulty competing with foreign
brands.

REGIONALISM

Of all the countries on the continent of Asia, Korea is the most culturally and ethnically
homogeneous. This is indubitably of great importance. It gave Korea a comparative advantage
and helped speed the process of Korean growth. This homogeneity obviated the need to create a
sense of national unity among disparate groups, and such unity was in general reinforced by the
perceived threat from North Korea. In contrast with other societies, there was no necessity to
redress previous patterns of discrimination against minorities if the nation were to grow
relatively equitably. It allowed the country to move ahead without political or social adjustment
to the vested interests of a small ethnic elite, or at the expense of culturally differentiated groups.
Education was able to pervade the nation easily without the road blocks of separate languages or
significantly different dialects

Like the elephant in the living room, regionalism is an obvious truth that South Korean
politicians like to pretend to ignore. Most Koreans are ashamed that there should be such a
divide between the east and west. True, a good argument can be made that regionalism is
becoming less pervasive as voters become more concerned with policy issues rather than
regional issues and as the population continues to migrate away from the outlying provinces and
into Seoul. But all evidence shows that the divide is still very wide. A particularly daunting
statistic is that in the 2002 presidential election, Roh Moo-hyun, who does not come from the
Jeolla region, won 93 percent of Jeolla votes, just 1 percent less than Kim Dae-jung won in 1997.
All this support was because Roh was the non-GNP (or non-Yeongnam) candidate.

Moreover, South Korea is one of the countries biggest successful economic developments.
Although there are circumstances and problems, they still maintain and keep the country on a
global success.

 Sustainable Governance Indicator , (n.d.), South Korea Economic Policies. Retrieved

from https://www.sgi-network.org/2017/South_Korea/Economic_Policies
 Oxford Handbook Online, (2014, October), South Korea’s Foreign Relations and
Security Policies. Retrieved from
https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199916245.001.0001/ox
fordhb-9780199916245-e-023
 Wikipedia, (n.d.), International Organization Membership of South Korea, Retrieved
from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_South_Korea#International_organization_mem
bership
 Global Security (2000). Korea – Regionalism. Retrieved from
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/rok/regionalism.htm
 Dixon, J. (2011, July), Korea’s Embrace of Globalization, Retrieved from
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2013/05/348_91475.html