[KS] [Q] Ghanaians in Korea - and ON Korea

[Afostercarter at aol.com]

Though alas I can't help Eunjeong, by dint of changing a vowel 
might I draw the List's attention to a fascinating Ghanaian on Korea:
below, and at 

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=92213


Doubtless we each have our own Korea, but this is or was mine.
Meaning: I came to Korea initially via a development studies problematic.

>From this viewpoint, South Korea remains on balance a huge success.
Astonishing transformations were wrought here. At a price, to be sure;
but overall, was the gain not worth the pain?

Yet many Koreans today, and not a few on this List, seem to take a far
more jaundiced view. (But perhaps hyper-criticsm is a good prophylactic
against complacency, and will spur yet more achievements in future.)

All prisms distort, but this view from the Volta seems clear-eyed to me.

Best wishes
Aidan

AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER
Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University 

Home address: 17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK 
tel: +44(0)  1274  588586         (alt) +44(0) 1264 737634          mobile:  
+44(0)  7970  741307 
fax: +44(0)  1274  773663         ISDN:   +44(0)   1274 589280
Email: afostercarter at aol.com     (alt) afostercarter at yahoo.com      website: 
www.aidanfc.net
[Please use @aol; but if any problems, please try @yahoo too - and let me 
know, so I can chide AOL]

_______________________

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=92213


South Korea: A Success Story Worth Emulating
By: Agyekum, Frank, (2005-10-16)
More from this columnist

BY FRANK AGYEKUM (ASSISTANT GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON ON GOVERNANCE)

I have been to South Korea this past two weeks and what l saw is simply 
amazing. For most of us coming out of Africa, we have come to take ‘development’ 
in Europe and North America as a matter of course.

Any of us travelling to any of these continents expects to see broad roads, 
high rise buildings, beautiful and modern vehicles, glittering lights at night, 
quick and courteous services, the latest in ICT and everything else.

Thanks to the ignoble slave trade and colonialism, the worldview of most 
Africans has been shaped to believe that development and advancement are the 
preserve of Europe and North America. Even when we’ve seen in photographs and films 
this same ‘development and advancement’ in other parts of the world, we have 
assumed that these other countries were playing catch-up with the West and 
their import have been largely lost on us

I have also read about the economic miracle of the ‘Asian Tigers.’ I have 
also seen photographs and films of some of the developments in these countries, 
and particularly in the days before my trip to South Korea, l read enough 
about that country to know that it was an emerging economic power.

But none of these prepared me enough for the South Korea that l saw. Five 
years after gaining independence from Japan in 1945, Korea was plunged into a 
three-year war which ended with the splitting of the country into two entities, 
North Korea under a communist-style government and South Korea with a liberal 
economic outlook.

All economic indicators show that from the end of the war in 1953 to the 
early 1960s South Korea was among the least developed countries in the world and 
like most African countries then, was characterized by high inflation, high 
population growth and high unemployment.

The annual inflation rate was 22 per cent, domestic savings about four per 
cent, and investment ratio about 10 per cent. Gross National Product (GNP) 
growth averaged 4.4 per cent and population growth was three per cent.

Wholly lacking in natural resources, South Korea was considered the third 
poorest country in Asia. Its exports, 88 per cent of which were primary products, 
consisted only three per cent of GDP and it depended largely on foreign aid.

The irony is that while these figures were true of many African economies in 
the late ‘50s and ‘60s and still stands true of many African countries today, 
South Korea shows an entirely different picture today

Ghana’s per capita income at independence in 1957 was equal to that of South 
Korea and Ghana with its rich and abundant natural resources, efficient civil 
service and a well structured education system was seen as the more viable 
economy of the two. South Korea, then coming out of a three-year war with the 
north and with very little natural resources did not amount to much in the eyes 
of economists.

Forty years or so on, the two countries tell an entirely different story. 
South Korea has moved on to become the 13th largest economy in the world. It is 
second in the world in shipbuilding, and sixth in both steel production and 
vehicle manufacture.

Its GDP per capita in 2004 was $19,200. Population growth rate is now 0.38 
per cent. Agriculture is 3.2 per cent of the economy and employs eight per cent 
of the labour force; industry 40.2 per cent with 19 per cent of the labour 
force and services, 56.6 per cent and engages 73 per cent of the labour force.

South Korea today has 91 airports, 88 of which have paved runways with the 
rest unpaved. The Han River, which runs along the length of the country just 
like our Volta River, is crossed by 23 bridges, all of which are bigger than our 
single Adome Bridge over the Volta.

The capital, Seoul, is an artist’s dream of glass skyscrapers, some rising as 
high as 63 floors and at night, the city comes alive in a razzmatazz of 
glitzy lights. The streets in the inner cities are either six or four lanes and 
they are full of made-in-Korea vehicles – Hyundai, Kia or Daewoo. Foreign made 
vehicles such as the Mercedes Benz, Lexus or BMW are a rarity.

Throughout my 10-day stay, the question l kept asking my hosts was how come 
South Korea has been able to make such a gigantic turn around in 40 odd years 
or so, while we in Ghana and Africa as a whole have stood still?

Today the same statistics which held true for both South Korea and much of 
Africa in the 1950s are still true for Africa, while South Korea as moved on in 
gigantic leaps and bounds. So what happened to us?

Each time the thought crossed my mind that at the turn of our independence in 
1957, Ghana with per capita income equal to that of South Korea was seen as 
the more viable economy because of our ‘rich and abundant natural resources,’ 
l felt like bowing my head in shame.

The Koreans however, are ever ready to tell about their success story. They 
are ever ready to tell how they started off with agrarian reforms to ensure 
that they had enough to eat; and then in the early-‘60s embarked on export-led 
light industrialization such as the manufacture of televisions sets for export. 
The story is told that at the time the South Koreans started exporting 
television sets, they had no television station in their country.

By the mid-‘60s, steel production had started to be followed by the 
manufacture of vehicles. The first Hyundai vehicle was produced in1967. By the early ‘
70s, South Korea had started building ships. This was followed later by 
electronics which saw Samsung Company limited playing a large part in the country’s 
development and now the emphasis is on ICT, seen as the product of the future.

During this period, South Korea had its fair share of currency devaluation, 
IMF-induced policies, deregulation etc, and all the measures so well known to 
us in Africa. Most importantly however, they had a stable government.

South Korea is a relatively young republic and most of those who lived 
through the hard times of the 1950s and 1960s are now in their 60s and in very 
important positions

I met three of them who are all professors in various fields. One of them, 
now a professor in education told me times were so hard for her family that most 
times, she drank only water and slept.

“When l was going to primary school, my parents could not afford girls’ 
school uniform for me so l used to wear that of my elder brother which was already 
suffering from wear and tear.

“Many people thought l was a boy. They only saw the difference when l had to 
urinate,” she said.

The other, now a professor in international relations said: “In those days 
everything was regulated. Even the amount of food one took to school was 
regulated and you were punished if you brought more than the required amount.

“This was because things were so tough and the government advised that we 
saved some of what we had for tomorrow.”

As we went through the cities of Seoul and Pusan, my hosts would point to 
whole paddy fields that have now been turned into ultra-modern real estates, or a 
fishing community where now sits a huge industrial complex.

While l listened to my hosts, my mind would occasionally go back to this old 
pensioner who lived next to my flat in London. His favourite topic whenever we 
had a little time to chit-chat was his amazement at how much London has 
changed from since he was a boy.

He told me about how the times were so difficult that some of them could not 
afford milk for their porridge. He told me about how they had to use public 
baths and about how night life in London was not full of lights and there were 
occasional black outs.

What l found common about my Korean hosts and my London flat neighbour was 
their pride in ‘showing of’ the ‘scars’ of their hard struggles in the past. 
It brought home more forcefully to me that every country that has made it in 
this world has a generation that was prepared to bear the brunt of the very hard 
times for a better future. This is true of Japan, of Germany, of Italy, of 
the US, of France, etc.

Question is: “Are there any set of Ghanaians willing to take the bull by the 
horns and tackle the economic development of this country just as the 
generation of the ‘Big Six’ did for our political independence?”

This government has shown it is ready to take the hard but necessary 
decisions to set the country on the path of development.

Whenever the ‘Wahalians’ take to the streets each time tough measures are 
taken that will lay the basis of our economic take-off, what they seem to be 
saying is: ‘we are not prepared to see to the development of this country. We 
prefer our present status of underdevelopment.’

Unlike all those countries that have made it despite passing through some 
very harsh times, the ‘Wahalians’ seem to be telling the whole world that 
Ghanaians are not prepared to take their destiny into their own hands and that they 
would rather be kept living in our present state of underdevelopment.

The teachings of Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher seem to have a 
great influence on the thinking of South Koreans and his quotes can be found in 
lifts and public places.

One of them that l came away with says: “If a man takes a taught not of what 
is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.” Think about it.

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In a message dated 31/08/2006 02:58:42 GMT Standard Time, em223 at cornell.edu 
writes:


> Subj:[KS] [Q] Ghanaians in Korea 
> Date:31/08/2006 02:58:42 GMT Standard Time
> From:em223 at cornell.edu
> Reply-to:koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> To:koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Sent from the Internet 
> 
> 
> 
> Dear Listmembers,
> 
> I, on behalf of my professor, have a very trivial question about Ghanaians
> in South Korea. Does anyone have any idea of how many Ghanaians there are
> in Seoul or elswhere in South Korea? If you have an answer, even remotely
> related, please email me off-the-list.  Thanks for your help.
> 
> best,
> eunjeong
> 
> 
> 



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