South Korea's "first lady" has been investigated, President Yoon Suk-yeol will also face a situation of "small and big" during his remaining period in office, and South Korea's economy is also declining rapidly.
But at this time, some people said that the turning point of South Korea's national fortunes has come, where to start?
And the United States is tied
Before and after the end of World War II, the United States proposed that the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and Britain jointly manage the Korean Peninsula in order to consolidate American power in Asia. But the United States did not expect that the Soviet Union would recover its economy so quickly, and Lao Chiang did not achieve victory.
The United States vigorously supported Syngman Rhee and tried to occupy the Korean Peninsula first, but the United States failed, and in desperation, the United States could only change its tactics and use South Korea to confront the Soviet Union in the economic, political, and other fields.
But to the surprise of the United States, the problem of corruption in South Korea is so serious that it has directly led to chaos in South Korea and weakened the United States' control over South Korea. At this time, the United States also reduced its aid to South Korea.
Could it be that the United States has abandoned South Korea?
"The Miracle of the Han River"
South Korea's economic development can be divided into five stages, the first two stages originated from the strong support of the United States, and at the end of the 50s of the last century, the United States changed the way of aid to South Korea, reduced the amount of free aid, and turned to provide long-term loans to South Korea.
But South Korea has too many domestic shortcomings, and when the United States reduced its investment, South Korea soon fell into chaos.
First of all, the Syngman Rhee government has frequent corruption, and the South Korean government and enterprises have a complicated power-for-money trading relationship, which has led to social turmoil in South Korea.
Second, in order to control the Korean Peninsula in the early years, the United States sent a large number of US troops to South Korea, making the South Korean army a "decoration", and some South Korean officers even wanted to overthrow the Syngman Rhee regime. At this time, the United States did not take action, but blindly supported Syngman Rhee, which promoted South Korea's "change" in disguise.
In 1961, Park Chung-hee seized power in South Korea by military means. Park Chung-hee's ideas have had a great impact on the "democratic politics" advocated by the United States.
This creates a sense of crisis in the United States, which, after all, has always wanted to establish a pro-American government in South Korea, and it is clear that Park Chung-hee is not the person the United States wants.
So how does Park Chung-hee respond to the threat from the United States and develop South Korea's economy?
Park Chung-hee was born in the military, graduated from the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School, and participated in the puppet Manchukuo Army, the South Korean Liberation Army, the South Korean National Defense Garrison, and the Republic of Korea National Army.
After the United States got to know Park Chung-hee deeply, it believed that some of Park Chung-hee's ideas were in line with the United States, and everyone had the same goal, that is, to contain the development of China and the Soviet Union, and to take North Korea by doing so. As a result, the United States was relieved of Park Chung-hee.
And what is Park Chung-hee's attitude towards the United States?
Park Chung-hee is the president of South Korea who is more inclined to the United States, but he also has a bottom line and is unwilling to let the United States take full control of South Korea.
After Park Chung-hee took office, he made good use of the assistance of the United States, combined with the situation in South Korea, launched the South Korean Five-Year Plan and the New Village Movement, and in 40 years, pulled the Korean economy out of the quagmire, and created well-known groups such as Hyundai, LG and Samsung, creating the "Han River Miracle".
In 2006, South Korea's GDP reached US$1,011.8 billion, making it one of the most developed countries. A large part of this credit goes to Park Chung-hee.
In addition, Park Chung-hee opened up a new chapter in South Korean diplomacy.
Although Park Chung-hee's exchange partners are non-communist countries, Park Chung-hee's ability to break the shackles of the United States and establish diplomatic relations with neutral countries in the world has also created a good external development environment for South Korea. For Park Chung-hee, the move also strengthened his position in South Korea.
In 1973, Park Chung-hee issued the June 23 Manifesto, in which he pledged to open his arms to the countries of the socialist camp. Although the effect is not particularly good, the move also indicates a slight shift in Park's position.
In 1983, when the hijacking of the Zhuo Chang-in plane occurred, South Korea ignored the United States and decided to communicate with the mainland to solve the problem, and sent all the Chinese passengers on the plane and the plane back to the mainland, which changed the relationship between China and South Korea.
The ROK presidents who succeeded Park Chung-hee have been more cautious in dealing with China, North Korea, Russia, and the United States, and have maintained exchanges with the United States while developing relations between China, the DPRK, and Russia.
Until Yoon Suk-yeol came to power, the situation changed dramatically, how will South Korea go forward? Have South Korea's national fortunes really changed?
A turning point in South Korea's national fortunes?
South Korea is an ally of the United States and the younger brother of the United States. During the successive South Korean presidents, everyone wanted to break free from the control of the United States, and there was a trade war between South Korea and the United States.
In the diplomatic field, South Korea has also tried to maintain a "neutral" position, try not to offend its neighbors as much as possible, and try to communicate "peacefully" with North Korea.
During Moon's time, North Korea was able to communicate with the United States through South Korea, which was a big step forward and showed that the two Koreas were determined to change. Unfortunately, these efforts eventually turned into a bubble.
After Yoon Suk-yeol took office, he openly stood aside and almost unconditionally supported all the choices of the United States, directly or indirectly offended China, Russia and North Korea on some international issues, and changed South Korea's external environment.
But Yoon Suk-yeol is not afraid, thinking that with the United States, everything is not a problem. As everyone knows, South Korea has long been pushed to the edge of a dangerous precipice by the United States.
Since 2022, the Federal Reserve has continued to raise interest rates, and countries around the world have followed suit, and South Korea has also joined the queue, raising the benchmark interest rate 10 times in just about a year and a half, and from January to October 2023, it has remained at around 3.5%, and the domestic economy of South Korea is becoming more and more unstable.
The Wall Street Journal reported that although the U.S.-South Korea alliance has been strengthened, the South Korean economy has still fallen victim to the sharp rise in U.S. interest rates.
According to Yicai, in June 2022, the total debt of South Korean households has reached 1,869.4 trillion won (about 9.57 trillion yuan), the highest since 2003. The lives of South Koreans have also been greatly affected, and inflationary pressures have been rising.
In addition, South Korea faces the threat of an aging population, with a significant reduction in manufacturing workforce, and in the future, North Korea's labor force is likely to be a big hole. And there are some instability in South Korean politics.
On the whole, South Korea is facing a crisis of "internal and external troubles", and it is no wonder that some people think that this is a turning point in South Korea's national fortunes, and if South Korea does not handle it well, it will be difficult to say about the future.
Resources:
[1] People's Daily Online, "US media: South Korea-US alliance strengthened during Biden's tenure, but South Korea's economy fell victim to the Fed's interest rate hike" 20231024
[2] Xinhuanet, "South Korea, is being pushed to the brink of danger", 20230426