Miracle of the Han River

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"South Korea's GDP (PPP) growth from 1911 to 2008" by Cantus - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - 

Now, remember that other post with Dictat- I mean former President Park and the population of Seoul? Anyways, as I said, under his rule, there was a miracle in the Korean economy. I'm not exaggerating here- but it had the fastest record of economic growth for decades! From 30 billion to more than a trillion in THIRTY YEARS- It's GDP (Gross Domestic Product, how much a country earns in a period) increased like 333 times in that 3 decades; that's way less than what General MacArthur (who commanded the Korean War and disobeyed former U.S. president Truman) said:
"It will take them (Korea) 100 years to recover from the devastation."

Anyways, why is my post called "The Miracle of the Han River?" Because that's what usually people call South Korea's huge economic growth in the late 20th Century. It was inspired by the "Miracle of the Rhine River", in which West Germany, after the Second World War, became Europe's largest economy after they experienced pain from the... you know what it is.

The Miracle of the Han River started in 1961, where Chung-hee Park was kind of like (in the 1961 election), "With cheap labor costs and sending the Koreans abroad, we will experience stress little now and have great wealth soon!" That statement came to life. Korean medics went everywhere, as well as one tragic event: sending Koreans the West German Rhine coal mine regions, where many had died. (Yes, the coal mines are dangerous.)

Within South Korea, young girls work in crowded factories and made clothes for 14-16 hours and only got 50 won a day; that was like buying a small cup of machine coffee! Many laborers crowded into Seoul and built buildings and factories, destroyed all the forests of Gangnam district of Seoul, which was all just huts and farmland at the time (And now the most economically thriving region of the nation, in fact this is where "Gangnam Style" by PSY is based on!).

What was the result of all of this? Yes, the high class getting rich and the lower class staying where they are. Even if the Korean economy was growing like wildfire.

But in the late 60's and 70's, something happened. A Korean laborer named Tae-il Jeon, who worked in the Seoul Peace Street Market, who used his bus fees from the day to get home to feed the young kids working with him, made the "Babo Group" in 1968, (바보회) or "The Stupid Group". He told the people with him, that they were "stupid" enough to not protest about the current situations of the laborers. Jeon then studied the laws of labor and went from government office to government office, complaining that the government is treating laborers like machines.

Tae-il Jeon got fired, then. Later, when he barely got rehired, he went on to complain to the media. And finally, on October 7th, 1970, the news about the laborers was finally written about. Everyone thought that things were going to change now, and the government said that they will keep on eye on the market owners, however did nothing at all. Finally, Jeon got mad, and protested a month later by burning himself in the middle of a crowded street, shouting,

"Obey the labor laws, stop treating us like machines, and do not make my death in vain!"

And that's when the huge protests began. The boycotts of the laborers affected the large companies, and in 1988, the Korean government finally made a minimum wage of 470 won. That is approximately 45 US CENTS, however was 30% of an average laborer's salary. These things are now rare in South Korea, as the minimum wage is going to be 6030 won in 2016, and is growing about 30-50 U.S. cents per year.The laborers' minimum wage is higher.

Back to the Korean economic growth story. In 1997, there was this thing called the Asian Crisis, better known in Korea as the IMF jeopardy (Or some across the globe call it the Korean IMF Crisis, just like Greece is in now.). Korea's GNI suddenly dropped below $10,000. Many became unemployed, This was all due to the past 2 decades, where Korea built factories, lent more money, and built more factories.. which turned out to be a dumb idea. If you're wondering why I'm not posting any photos right now, just go to this website 'cause I know all of those three Korean crisis..es?. : http://www.inthekimchijar.com/687

Anyways, that gave me an idea about future posts: Tragic events in Korea and why they happen.

Wait, this is not the end of the story! I forgot to say that Korea finally paid back all their debts in they year 2000 and now they have the 11th largest economy. Yay.

Sorry, I got off-topic.

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