Korea, the United States, and the Global Marketplace
ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS ill the Republic of Korea (South Korea) that have occurred in recent decades have been profound and remarkable, making it one of the most vibrant and thriving democracies in Asia. At the same time, it has become a regional as well as global economic powerhouse. But although Korea is in the midst of perhaps its most fundamental economic adjustment in modern times, it is also taking on the key characteristics of the most advanced industrial economies. This process is inevitably raising the same sort of criticism faced by the United States. Korea's extraordinary economic development, especially over the past half-century, has been based heavily on the growth of manufacturing centered on the chaebol. However, Korea is now witnessing much of its traditional manufacturing activity moving to lower-cost areas, notably China. That development should be viewed as neither