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Window to Korea’s Development Experiences

Development Overview/ Overview of Korea's development experience

Growth of the Manufacturing Sector// Is the 1960’s, the manufactufacturing sector started to play a leading role in Korea’s economic growth,
and between 1960 and 1970, Korea enjoyed an annual growth rate of 17 percent.

Vocational Training and Education// Vocational training and education programs produced skilled manpower
required for industrialization.

Promoting Heavy and Chemical Industry// In the 1970s, the HCI (heavy and chemical industry) drive contributed
to forming the foundation of key industries that currently support the Korean economy.

Building Infrastructure// The successful completion of the first three Five-Year Plans (1962-1976)
led to the development of alternative transportation means, including expressways.

International Sports Events// Holding the Olympic Games stimulated 7 billion US dollars of production
and 2.7 billion US dollars of national income from 1981 to 1988.

Financial Sector Reform// Financial sector reform normalized the financial system and
rebuilt the financial safety net to prevent future crisis.

Technology Development// From the early 2000s, technological development was made possible by domestic R&D
activities and imports of capital goods that embody advanced technologies.

Themes/ One stop reference

The Development of Korea’s Electronics Industry During Its Formative Years (1966-1979)

Korea’s electronics industry is perhaps its best-known industry around the world. In terms of industry share of Korea’s exports in 2015, electronics (including semiconductors, wireless communications devices, flat-panel displays, computers, and consumer electronics) came in first at 27.6%, with world-class competitiveness in each of the product categories, followed distantly by automobiles and auto parts at 13.5%.
The Green Revolution in Korea: Development and Dissemination of Tongil-type Rice Varieties

Korea has 5,000 years of long-standing history, overcoming tremendous invasion by foreign country and trials, created splendid heritage, however, could not free from the shackles of food shortages. Therefore, for Korean to increase the volume of food production was long cherished-wish. Started from the early 1960s, Korea set out National Economic Development Plan KDI. 2012. From miracle to maturity: The growth of the Korean Economy. Harvard Univ. Press.<br> which pursues national economy should begin with self-sufficiency in food.
Analysis on Development and Achievement of Compulsory Elementary Education after the Korean War

Since its establishment of the Korean government, Korea has achieved a remarkable development in education for the past 7 decades. The main driving forces of Korean education lie in quantitative growth and qualitative improvement. What is noteworthy of quantitative development of Korean education is not just the size and speed of the growth but also the procedure of the outstanding achievement.
Construction and Utilization of National Transport Database in Korea

Many countries in the world are implementing DB through routine national transport survey to effectively make investment for transport infrastructure and establish transport policy. In Korea, the Transport Investment Evaluation Program was used as basis for the validity of investment and remained as nominal until the 1990s due to the lack of investment on transport infrastructure.
A Study on the Korean Government's Supporting Measures for Private Firms' Science, Technology, and Innovation Promotion

The government initiative to encourage private companies’ research included tax and financial incentives, special benefits in military service for researchers and expansion of overseas training, R&D funding, establishment of big enterprise research centers and encouraging SME to join the Industry Technology Research Union, facilitation of purchase plans for new technology-based products and support for new technology investment.

Statistics/ Key development data for Korea

Population projection

Statistics from 1960 to 2018

Population projection Statistics from 1960 to 2018
Infant mortality rate

Statistics from 2005 to 2016

Infant mortality rate Statistics from 2005 to 2016
Index of manufacturing ICT production

Statistics from 2000 to 2018

Index of manufacturing ICT production(Original index) Statistics from 1990 to 2015

Featured/ Featured Korea's development experience content

KSP/ Knowledge Sharing Program

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Capacity Building Workshops

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Consulting Program

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Impact Evaluation

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Development Cases

Events