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South Korea: The New Asian Model
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14888 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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10 / 1988 |
1,012 Words |
| Author
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Richard G. Lugar
Richard G. Lugar is the senior Republican senator from
Indiana. |
Despite heavy losses of American lives during the early 1950s in the Korean War, and despite long-standing political, economic, and security ties, South Korea did not push its way into the crowded American consciousness until recently.
For many years, most Americans saw South Korea as a small Asian nation where the United States had fought a distant, unpopular, and almost forgotten war--a developing society with an economy of unknown but limited potential. This perception was inaccurate, and events in the past few years have brought American thinking about Korea more in line with reality.
Dramatic political and economic changes in the landscape of Korean society catapulted South Korea into the view of the American people in recent Years. Politically, South Koreans have transformed themselves from a traditional authoritarian regime into one characterized by significant power-sharing arrangements among all citizens and all institutions with Korea.
The spectacular expansion of the Korean economy, which had been brewing of years, penetrated the consciousness of Americans as fears grew--fears of international trade shortfalls and job losses to foreign imports. In some ways the most recent events in South Korea--planning for the 24th Olympiad and rising anti-Americanism--resulted from the economic and political transitions in this remarkable nation of 42 million.
The eruption of violent political turmoil in the streets of South Korea last summer heralded a process that has dramatically turned and authoritarian system toward democracy in less than a year. These political convulsions have included: a decision by former President Chun Doo Hwan to permit direct election of the next president of Korea, the drafting of a new constitution with enhanced powers for the National Assembly, the direct election of President Roh Tae Woo in December 1987, and parliamentary elections in April of this year.
South Korea now has its first popularly elected president since the early 1970s and a National Assembly that is dominated by opposition parties for the first time in history. In the United States, such developments were viewed as a very positive trend, consistent with global democratization.
As these political events in South Korea were unfolding, the United States was becoming more alarmed with a growing trade deficit, a seeming flood of Asian
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