Changing Dynamics in Korea-Japan Economic Relations: Policy Ideas and Development Strategies

Abstract

The hierarchical economic relationship between Korea and Japan has gradually unraveled since mid-1980 as Korea began to build a competitive economic structure. The emergence of new policy ideas and development strategies in Korea was pivotal in bringing about this dramatic turnaround.

Revolution and restoration in post-war East Asia: A Gramscian approach to the ‘history problem’

“…However, the hierarchical relationship between Korea and Japan had already seen significant transformation since the heyday of the post-war passive revolution. Korean industrialisation and the resulting reluctance of Japanese firms to transfer core technologies to the country had accelerated the drive by Korean firms to establish an autonomous technological and production base (Rhyu & Lee 2006: 206). Certainly, the restrictions in the short- to medium-term suggest a significant potential impact on the Korean semiconductor industry, given that the high capital costs of the industry implied a significant impact on profits.…”

The real East Asian Aid model: Development assistance as an instrument of comprehensive security in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

“…Japan's version of the concept would influence its colonies, Korea and Taiwan, as well as the Chinese Nationalist Republic of China government that would control Taiwan after Japan's defeat in 1945 (Moore, , p. 5) . Taiwan and South Korea used Japan as a model not just for economic development, but also for political development (Curtis, ), and the concept had significant resonance for those governments with their own (worldview‐related sense of) insecurity and economic backwardness (Cho, ; Moran, ; Rhyu & Lee, ).…”

Human Security as an Instrument of (Traditional) Comprehensive Security in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

“…The concept of "rich nation, strong army" resonated with the governments in Taiwan and South Korea, which faced formidable security and economic challenges of their own (see for example Cho 2008;Moran 1998;Rhyu and Lee 2006). In the case of Korea, this idea carried over to a policy of "developmental realism," that married hardnosed realism abroad to domestic developmental statism (Cho 2008).…”