When South Korea was coming out the war, it was around the poorest country on Earth. The generation who lived through the war, or who grew up right after saw their country going from being literal rubble to being a global powerhouse -- and lots of the credit is given to the dictatorship of Park Chung Hee and the particulars of the economic development program he initiated. The downside to that program, and much of it still exists today, is that is was designed to operate in a way that tolerated lots of corruption in both government and industry.
The <40 generations, who remember, at the earliest, leaving behind the military dictatorship and emergence as a fledgling democracy are far less tolerant of the excesses that the old system tolerated and want to raise expectations, bring about accountability, "deconfucionize" the national leadership (both political and industrial/commercial), and I think along with that further diversify the economy.
South Koreans are tremendously entrepreneurial, there are many many small businesses that are formed every year, and they operate in some ways in the shadows of the offerings from the major conglomerates. The government, for what it's worth, has been toying around with growing and promoting VC-like startups to help formalize the grow-and-sell approach. But there's still a tremendous disconnect and you find very few medium-sized, or even large businesses, as the conglomerates tend to either out-compete or buy up all of those companies.
From the normal person's perspective you find yourself trapped in a cycle of "making it big" and getting into a salary-man's life with a big firm (and all the downsides of that lifestyle), or doing similar jobs with less security and less pay for tiny companies. Many people don't want either choice, they want a third-way, even if they're having difficulty articulating this desire, and I think the country may be on the verge of this transformation into a more fully diversified economy.
Superficially it's hard for outsiders to see or understand this, since you can get all of the first-world fixings you would expect...except that they all seem to come from the same 4 or 5 companies and it keeps the economy perpetually trapped.
However, Korea's global position is precarious, cheaper manufacturing and goods are an hour flight away to the West (China), and higher-quality precision engineering is an hour flight away to the East (Japan). Korea has neither the money, or population to really directly compete with either and thus tries to use both the bulk of the conglomerates to act as economic gate crashers into global trade and then massive cultural subsidies and funding to push in awareness of Korean cultural properties and the network that comes with that (oh, so you like K-POP? you'll love Kimchi!). Politicians are rightly terrified of losing the relative power the conglomerates give the nation as powerful chess pieces.
The recent presidential crisis and the continuing revelations of how corrupt, and tied together the government and the conglomerates are has been a major revelation to millions of young Koreans. This crisis could become a watershed moment that could radically transform the entire political and economic landscape in the country. It's not clear at all what that could look like or if it would be beneficial for the country.
The <40 generations, who remember, at the earliest, leaving behind the military dictatorship and emergence as a fledgling democracy are far less tolerant of the excesses that the old system tolerated and want to raise expectations, bring about accountability, "deconfucionize" the national leadership (both political and industrial/commercial), and I think along with that further diversify the economy.
South Koreans are tremendously entrepreneurial, there are many many small businesses that are formed every year, and they operate in some ways in the shadows of the offerings from the major conglomerates. The government, for what it's worth, has been toying around with growing and promoting VC-like startups to help formalize the grow-and-sell approach. But there's still a tremendous disconnect and you find very few medium-sized, or even large businesses, as the conglomerates tend to either out-compete or buy up all of those companies.
From the normal person's perspective you find yourself trapped in a cycle of "making it big" and getting into a salary-man's life with a big firm (and all the downsides of that lifestyle), or doing similar jobs with less security and less pay for tiny companies. Many people don't want either choice, they want a third-way, even if they're having difficulty articulating this desire, and I think the country may be on the verge of this transformation into a more fully diversified economy.
Superficially it's hard for outsiders to see or understand this, since you can get all of the first-world fixings you would expect...except that they all seem to come from the same 4 or 5 companies and it keeps the economy perpetually trapped.
However, Korea's global position is precarious, cheaper manufacturing and goods are an hour flight away to the West (China), and higher-quality precision engineering is an hour flight away to the East (Japan). Korea has neither the money, or population to really directly compete with either and thus tries to use both the bulk of the conglomerates to act as economic gate crashers into global trade and then massive cultural subsidies and funding to push in awareness of Korean cultural properties and the network that comes with that (oh, so you like K-POP? you'll love Kimchi!). Politicians are rightly terrified of losing the relative power the conglomerates give the nation as powerful chess pieces.
The recent presidential crisis and the continuing revelations of how corrupt, and tied together the government and the conglomerates are has been a major revelation to millions of young Koreans. This crisis could become a watershed moment that could radically transform the entire political and economic landscape in the country. It's not clear at all what that could look like or if it would be beneficial for the country.