Korea's Development Under Park Chung Hee

by Hyung-A Kim

Overview

Based on personal interviews with the principal policy-makers of the 1970s, Korea's Development under Park Chung-Hee examines how the president sought to develop South Korea into an independent, autonomous sovereign state both economically and militarily. Kim provides a new narrative in the complex task of exploring the paradoxical nature and effects of Korea's rapid development which maintains that any judgement of Park must consider his achievements in the socio-economic, cultural and political context in which they took place. Aspects of Park's government analyzed include:
*his abhorrence of Korea's reliance on the US presence
*the Korean model of state-guided industrialization
*Park's rapid development strategy
*the role of the ruling elites
*Park's clandestine nuclear development program
*the heavy chemical industrialisation of the 1970s
The prevailing popularity of Park in the eyes of the Korean public is significant and relevant to their acceptance of how their national development was achieved. This book tells that story while simultaneously recognizing the flaws in the process. With a great deal of material never before published, scholars of Korean politics and history at all levels will find this book a stimulating account of South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134349821
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/02/2004
Series:	Routledge/Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) East Asian Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Hyung-A Kim is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSRTAMS), University of Wollongong, Australia.

Table of Contents

Part One: Road to Military Revolution
Part Two: Military Rule and Nation Building
Part Three: From Top-Down Rural Development to Yusin Reform

Editorial Reviews

'This book is an excellent analysis of the development policy of Korea and the associated political developments in recent years.' - Journal of Contemporary Asia

From the Publisher