North and South Korea Term Paper

Korea

The Effects of the Historical Division of Korea on Industry, Agriculture & Family

Before the Korean War from 1950-1953, Korea was a single nation. Afterwards, the nation was divided into two halves, the North which embraced totalitarian communism, and the South which followed the path of liberal democracy (Kwak & Hwang). After decades of this difference, stark differences have emerged between the two nations, particularly in terms of industry, agriculture, and family life.

Since the end of the Korean War, North and South Korea have had dramatically different economic systems that have influenced the development of both industry and agricultural production. South Korea employs a capitalist market system, while North Korea has adapted central planning economy that is most historically well-known in the former Soviet Union (Kwak & Hwang). For industrial, and business in general, development the differences in economic systems could not be more severe. Though many factors are certainly at work, the market economy in South Korea has been a resounding success, allowing the South Korean economy to grow faster than its population growth over the past thirty years, resulting in increased affluence per capita.The development of South Korea's first Five-Year economic Development Plan in 1962 certainly contributed to the nation's economic success in the subsequent decades (Kwak & Hwang).

In contrast, North Korea put to work a centralized planning economy that was based on the notion of complete national self-sufficiency, a concept that seems antiquated at best in an era of globalization and transnational economic development. In fact, this approach, which was begun in earnest in the early 1960s has not produced the positive economic results that the North Korean economic planners undoubtedly hoped for. Instead, North Korea's self-reliant centralized planning economy resulted in stunted economic growth that developed into widespread economic slowdown and difficulties throughout the 1980s (Kwak & Hwang). Because of their insistence on self-reliance, North Korea largely rejects foreign imports and investment striving toward an ideal of domestic production and use only. Unfortunately, since the end of World War II, the national economic development, especially in developing nations, has increasingly relied on an influx of investment from more affluent First World nations. Since North Korea insists on reject these inputs,….....