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South Korea: To Some the Philippines, To Many Another Vietnam
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10034 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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4 / 1986 |
1,817 Words |
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William L. Scully
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Few would deny that recent developments in the Philippines and South Korea appear to parallel one another. To argue, however, that the long overdue democratization of the Philippines has set in motion a "domino phenomenon" that clearly portends the imminent demise of the present government in Seoul is, at best, rather presumptuous. Such faulty reasoning, one suspects, is born more of wishful thinking than of objective analysis.
Those similarities that can be said to exist between South Korea under President Chun Doo Hwan and the pre-Aquino rule in the Philippines could just as easily be said of Indonesia under President Soeharto, Burma under General Ne Win, or--to a lesser extent--Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew. Generally, in each case there is evident a strong presidential/authoritarian system; political opposition is either curtailed or effectively circumscribed; human rights violations are alleged to exist; and, with the exception of Singapore, the military--whether in uniform or mufti--exercises an important, if not predominant, role in the political and developmental life of the country. To argue or suggest anything beyond these broad generalizations and similarities is misleading and fraught with danger.
To say that "South Korea is not the Philippines" should not be construed as a defense of President Chun vis-a-vis the political opposition in the South. Rather, it is a recognition that important and critical differences are at play in each situation.
Differences
Although the Philippine economy under President Marcos suffered immeasurably, the same cannot be said of the Republic of Korea over the past several decades. During that time, the free world has rightfully admired--and, in some cases, coveted--the dramatic transformation that has taken place in South Korea. While it suffered enormous devastation during World War II and a tragic fratricidal conflict in the early 1950s, the Republic of Korea has successfully transfigured itself from a primitive agricultural society to an industrial nation. Today, Korea stands as a vital, stable, and relatively advanced industrialized member of the free world community.
Beginning in 1962, under the stewardship of President Park Chung Hee, Korea launched a series of five-year plans which stressed an outward-looking development strategy that emphasized the growth of exports. In the 19-year period between 1962 and 1980, GNP--at 1980 prices--grew from $12.7 billion to $57.4 billion, an increase of 452 percent; per capita GNP, at current prices, rose from $87 to $1,506. While exports were generally insignificant in 1962 (less than $50 million), they totaled some $17 billion in 1980.
Such rapid economic development has placed Korea among the three or four fastest growing "middle income" countries of the world. Noteworthy is the fact that such development occurred throughout the mid-1970s when the first oil shock of 1973-74 and the subsequent world recession of 1974-78 slowed growth in most other countries.
By the end of the 1970s, however, the economic policies pursued by South Korea had become counterproductive. In fact, the political and economic system assembled by Park to ensure fast growth suffered a setback in 1979. The underlying cause of the economic collapse lay not with the
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