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I have been coming to Korea for thirty years, not like my 80 visits to Japan but with regularity. The progress in the social and economic development of Korea has been phenomenal and included the transition from dictatorship to democracy during the time of my visits. I believe that Korea and Taiwan are two examples to prove that economic development leads to democracy and not vice versa (the flawed view of the U.S. government).
The most interesting thing about Korea for me is the country's commitment to IT in all its forms--devices, network quality and availability, content, etc. It is almost like IT innovation and development is the national strategy. Everybody I talked to in two days of visits was very knowledgeable about IT, including government ministry personnel. In contrast, government officials in most of Latin America are almost blase about IT and its role in their country's strategy.
On visit to a large Korean corporate I had a chance to see the new Samsung tablet that will be available next month. Beautiful device, a little heavier than the Kindle with a high resolution 7 inch screen and the Android 2.2 operating system. There were none of the rumored problems with image sizing and the user interface was more intuitive for me than the iPad. The device has both a cellular modem and wi-fi. May be my Christmas present.
While Korea has advanced significantly in social and economic terms, it's future includes two major issues:
- How to position itself in the face of the emergence of China as a mega world power
- A population that is forecasted to decline starting in 2015
While China dwarfs Korea on almost every measurement scale, South Korea plans to use it's economic strength and IT expertise to independently expand its influence in foreign affairs, whether it reunites with North Korea or not. Consequently, Korea is becoming a significant new foreign aid source in both Africa and Latin America. I would also expect South Korea to use its reputaion for excellence in education at all levels (including university) to become the educational center for eastern Asia. It's stellar reputation in IT complements this educational prowess.
With respect to the population issue, Korea will have to open its doors to foreign workers and accept non-Koreans eventually as citizens. No country in Asia has yet solved the problem of how to successfully integrate foreign workers as citizens. Look for Korea to use it's centrally controlled education system as the means to facitate this integration and become the first country in Asia to successfully integrate foreigners as citizens.
The Koreans have a cockiness reminiscent of the Japanese in the 1980s and Americans up until very recently. Success breeds confidence and this is especially true in South Korea. The South Koreans have worked very hard for their success and it will be interesting to see how it affects their future behavior on the world stage.
