In recent days, because of the relationship between the Winter Olympics, South Korea has fiercely brushed a wave of existence, almost becoming a hot topic in various countries, and people from all over the world have also conducted all-round discussions on South Korea.
As a country with a population of only 50 million and an area less than the size of a province in China, South Korea has been ranked among the developed countries many years ago, and many countries are eager for South Korea's prosperity and development while stepping up their own progress.
However, in recent years, when people mention South Korea again, they suddenly find that there is something wrong with the developed country of South Korea.
One of the important criteria for measuring a country's development level is urbanization, but whether it is Seoul 20 years ago or Seoul today, it seems that South Korea has always had only such an international city, and it has not been possible to think of a second developed city for a while.
People can't help but wonder what is behind the prosperity of the four Asian tigers and today's deformed developed country South Korea?
01 The cattiness of The Korean economy and the relationship between politics and politics are constantly rational and chaotic
In fact, South Korea's entry into the ranks of developed countries also begins after World War II, and the rapid rise of South Korea like Japan is inseparable from the support of the United States.
It can even be said that the reason why South Korea can become a developed country is the handiwork of the United States, which provides support behind it, endorses its economic development, and provides it with development resources, so that it can quickly enter the market in a short period of time.
In fact, the main reason and measurement criterion for South Korea's inclusion in the ranks of developed countries is the standard of GDP, the per capita GDP of 50 million people has reached about 30,000 US dollars, so it seems that it is indeed the level of developed countries, but is this really the case?
Speaking of South Korea's economic development, it is actually necessary to start from The Second World War, when the Korean Peninsula, like Germany's East and West Berlin, was divided into two by capitalism and socialism, especially after the Korean War, South Korea's economic development was more like a confusing mess, and there was no way out.
The reason why South Korea did not completely collapse during this period is that the United States, the gold lord, is struggling to support it.
But we must know that no matter the development of any country or individual, it is not enough to rely only on the noble people behind it, people can support you and support others, and the most important thing is that if you want to get more, you must be able to stand up.
Obviously, South Korea before 1961 could not stand up, and just when the United States was about to lose confidence in it, South Korea ushered in the Park Chung-hee era, which was the leader of the new era who officially brought South Korea into the threshold of developed countries.
Like his predecessor, Syngman Rhee, Park Chung-hee was a bold leader who was a real asset to the country's development.
In order to quickly stimulate the economic development of South Korea, Park Chung-hee decided to use military politics to drive the economy, use harsh military means to manage South Korea's development, regulate the Korean economy, and embark on the road of development at a glance.
Of course, in addition to Park Chung-hee's vigorous implementation, South Korea's development has also taken advantage of the development of the times, which can enjoy the dividends of the new era economy and obtain valuable development opportunities.
Interestingly, it is difficult to imagine that the pre-development South Korean economy was not as good as a third of that of North Korea, which shows how poor South Korea was at that time, so what opportunity did South Korea finally seize to be able to rise so quickly?
In fact, it is simple to say, that is, the time of Park Chung-hee's emergence coincided with the empty window period for the development of heavy industry in capitalist countries such as the United States.
Not only the United States, but also Japan, which has always been known as the back garden of the United States.
This is like a few hungry teenagers, Yu Ge has not eaten a full meal for many months, suddenly came a big meal to eat for more than a month, finally full of food can not eat, but the board full of food has never been empty, want to eat something else must first vacate the board.
At this time, South Korea is like a person who has been starving for several years, rushing up is a frenzy, this result is gratifying, after all, someone has taken over, and the big brothers are happy to take it with them.
In fact, although both South Korea and Japan have the United States behind it, fundamentally speaking, the first rise of the Korean economy depends on Japan more.
At that time, the development of Japan's heavy industry entered a period of modernization fatigue, and the contradiction between social development, economic development, and environmental protection was deepening, and if you wanted to make achievements in other aspects, you must develop a variety of economies, but you naturally cannot give up on heavy industry that can make a lot of money.
And in the period when Japan was at a loss, South Korea extended an olive branch to it, is it not a lack of heavy industry development to take over the region?
South Korea is on top, so the two countries have entered a rare honeymoon period in modern times.
It is worth mentioning that the development ties between the two sides make people not know what to say, and you can't imagine that the connection between South Korea and Japan at that time was actually maintained by the "great Korean traitors" during the Japanese invasion of Korea.
Of course, what is even more unexpected is that decades have passed, and those former traitors in South Korea have not only not been punished by the Korean government, but have even ushered in the second spring of their career development, and openly "eyebrow-to-eyebrow" with the Japanese in the identity of the country.
But we have to admit that Park Chung-hee really can afford to put it down, and his approach was indeed the fastest way to upgrade the Korean economy at that time.
The introduction of Japan's "foreign capital" is the introduction of heavy industry and manufacturing, under the premise of the military and government as the backstage, Park Chung-hee monopolizes power, how to develop as much as he wants, just like many rising countries, the South Korean people have also relied on their own cheap labor for a long time.
This rare development time is also known as the "Miracle of the Han River" and has almost become a textbook for the development of the world economy, whether it is Park Chung-hee or South Korea.
We also have to admit that South Korea's development is rapid and prosperous, perhaps this is to lean against the big trees to cool off.
However, behind this rapidly fattening economy there are also its drawbacks and deficiencies, and other things have been derived from the cycle, such as unbalanced economic development and excessively concentrated economic development distribution, which inevitably gives people a top-heavy feeling.
On the other hand, the uneven pace of economic, political, cultural and other development has led to a deformed development path, and has also caused excessive dependence on the financial owners behind the United States and Japan, resulting in kidnapping and thorough manipulation.
So what are the unusual developments in Korea?
02 The deformed Korean economy, a moth derived from capital control - a Korean chaebol
Many young people like to watch Korean dramas, especially the love story between the noble prince and the commoner lady is always addictive, which is probably the dream of all girls, the handsome and golden chaebol prince "only loves me", after all the obstacles, finally married into the rich, from then on to the peak of life.
Such film and television plots are not uncommon, although it seems too princess disease and unrealistic, but it is not empty, since South Korean chaebols can be written into TV dramas, it is enough to prove that there is a close connection between art and life.
When it comes to South Korea's chaebols, many of them are familiar to us, such as Samsung, LG, the pillar of South Korea's national economy, or the car brand "Hyundai".
Behind these world-famous brands are the figure of Korean chaebols, of course, South Korea can become a developed country, these powerful and powerful chaebols have largely balanced the GDP of ordinary people.
South Korea's chaebols are not only rich and powerful, but also can even get involved in politics, and the recent presidents have come to power and have not died well, but behind the Korean chaebols, they have really achieved economic leverage for politics.
From the early plutocrats supporting political elections to the current manipulation and behind-the-scenes pushers, all the chaebols represent only you can't think of without him.
The Lee Jae-yong incident, the head of Samsung, which has been making a lot of noise in the past two years, can be said to be well known, because of bribery and political manipulation, the head of Samsung was directly arrested, and he was arrested, not sentenced.
It is said that Lee Jae-yong also enjoys the treatment of not losing his usual life in prison, and can even continue to remotely control the group's economic development to a certain extent.
At that time, when Li Zairong was arrested, many people clapped their hands and applauded, feeling very relieved, but a few years have passed, how tough the government at that time is now how relaxed, for a few years the chaebols actively ran behind the scenes, and finally the government released Li Zairong under the pressure of the chaebols.
It can be seen from this incident that the Chaebols in South Korea seem to have a fearless attitude, and the subordination of their political masters and businessmen has almost completely reversed, and the government cannot effectively regulate the behavior of the chaebols, precisely because the state finances are supported by the chaebols.
Therefore, it has more voice, which is why the consequences of recent Presidents of South Korea are incomprehensible, which is basically nothing more than hindering the development path of the chaebols and eventually leading to their downfall.
It is precisely because of this deformed approach to national development that South Korea's economy is deformed and top-heavy.
Maybe you've heard of "Seoul disease." Looking at the developed countries in the world, although the development of other countries shows regional imbalances, they are generally blooming everywhere, and no place is excessively poor or developed, even India, which has pried away foreign manufacturing capital.
But Seoul in South Korea is different, although from the source of the "Han River Miracle" from the Park Chung-hee period, but led to Seoul overdeveloped, just one city's economy accounted for more than 20% of the country's GDP.
Not only that, but politics, economics, health care, education, international trade, development facilities and economic lifelines of most countries are gathered in Seoul.
This has led to a kind of almost crazy yearning and love for Seoul in South Koreans, and almost all the citizens have sharpened their heads to live in Seoul, which has triggered the housing in Seoul to be hyped up to sky-high prices, and really achieved a lot of money.
This kind of super high housing prices even exceed the standards of many old developed cities, and the cycle has formed a vicious circle, the more manufacturing and industry, the more developed Seoul's economy, the more developed the economy, it is more necessary to increase the construction of industrial industries, and then squeeze the land, less and less housing land, and high housing prices.
In addition to the abnormal economic and political development, South Korea's military has also shown a deformed state, but this is not uncommon, after all, since the end of World War II, South Korea has become another back garden of the United States in East Asia.
Even in the Korean War, the local host, south Korea has little say, and the role of south Korean troops in the Korean war is minimal.
From this period, it is not difficult to see that the military power of North Korea may not be completely in its own hands, and many times we have to look at the face of the US financial lord behind it, such as the deployment of THAAD, in fact, the South Korean government does not have much say at all, and has to obey the arrangements of the Americans.
After all, from the geographical point of view, south Korea's national strength is really not rare in East Asia, surrounded by such a big country as China, Russia, and Japan, but every move is under the eyes of people, although it is a developed country, but this day does not have much taste.
This also means that militarily, South Korea relies on the United States, needs its military to exist for a long time to escort the development of the country, and does not allow South Koreans to beak at all for the purposes and requirements of the United States.
Even the behavior of the US soldiers cannot be effectively restrained, and the US soldiers during the epidemic prevention and control period ignore the South Korean epidemic prevention policy and openly flaunt their might on the street, but south Korea can hardly come up with any countermeasures.
03 Self-confidence or inferiority? Perhaps South Korea has never been fully independent
In the state of deep investigation, the development of various fields in South Korea shows a pathological state compared with other countries, in addition to the political, economic and military imbalances, which actually have a lot to do with historical roots.
As we can see in modern times, this obvious contradiction of Koreans is very puzzling, and sometimes we feel that they are overconfident, which has basically become the consensus of the people of the world.
On the other hand, this is also a kind of inferiority, because the lack of many things makes people want to have it, and even feel that it is his own in his heart.
In fact, in the history of Korea for more than 800 years, the early period of a long period of time as the Ming Dynasty's vassal state and existence, whether it is the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang or the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, the status of Tribute to the Great Name Minister in Korea has never changed, not only sending money and wealth every year, but also sending beautiful women, the position of the harem fresh woman of the Ming Dynasty has never been vacant.
However, this state did not last forever, the original Korean Peninsula under the eyes of the Ming Dynasty did not even dare to breathe, originally thought that with the decline of the Qing government, finally can be independent, but the result will not be as desired.
After the Sino-Japanese War, Japan took over Korea, and it was also reduced to a Japanese colony, so to say that, in fact, these days were not as good as the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, after all, neither the Ming Nor the Great Qing dynasty killed innocents and squeezed them to the extreme.
The third stage of South Korea's development is that after the end of World War II to the present, Japan withdrew from the United States to take over, there is no opportunity for Koreans to breathe and choose, from beginning to end, South Korea has not had a stage of real independent development, nor has it really been independent.
It can even be said that this is a chick that has not been weaned in the coat of the country, and has put on the coat of the developed country without understanding anything, and in the case of internal and external mismatch, the deformity of development may not be so abrupt.
epilogue
South Korea's development has a long way to go, a small land area, and a lack of resources are all checks and balances hindering its economic development. If you want to break the current development dilemma, perhaps South Korea still has a long way to go.