ABSTRACT
Korea as a whole has been historically influenced by Japan more than by any other country except by Mainland China before the Communist era. During the Park to Park period, the Republic of Korea (ROK), distinctive from North Korea, has followed Japanese industrialisation policies with South Korea learning from the successes and mistakes made by the Japanese with regard to their economic policies. After 1997 the South Korean economy no longer had the government as the dominant actor and the relationship with Japan increasingly became one of mutual benefit rather than a total dependence in relation to innovation, investment and intellectual property. Japan used to be one step ahead of South Korea, taking the risks in innovation and economic policies, leaving the ROK to let Japan make the mistakes and then copy the most promising Japanese technology. Japan has one of the lowest ratios of entrepreneurs in the world akin to France, Belgium and Germany at 3.7" of the population.
