ABSTRACT
Korea was a typically less developed economy based on agriculture until the early 1960s. It had almost all the problems that poor developing countries might have: high population density, very low levels of income, scarce natural resources and low economic growth rates. However, it has achieved extremely rapid growth since the Korean government promulgated its first Five Year Economic Development Plan in 1962. Annual increase of GDP reached on average 7.5 per cent from 1963 to 1999, and was regarded as a model case of ‘making a miracle’ (Lucas 1993). The remarkable growth of the Korean economy was accompanied by the rapid development of the Korean steel industry. As shown in Figure 12.1, the domestic consumption of crude steel increased from 0.3 million tonnes in 1962 to 39.9 million tonnes in 1999, while production increased from 0.1 to 41 million tonnes for the same period. However, the future of the Korean steel industry does not look so rosy as it did in the the past. The domestic steel market is expected to be satiated. Business environments in the Korean steel industry have undergone a lot of changes. The world steel industry has been becoming much more competitive. Globalization and the IT (information technology) revolution have been changing the traditional transaction patterns. Environmental requirements have continued to have a major impact on the industry. Technological developments in the steel industry have been taking place faster than ever. Crude steel consumption and production in Korea, thousand tonnes. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203564783/9a2dba46-ae59-4ff9-98e1-df28fcf57cd1/content/fig12_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Source: Korean Iron & Steel Association, various years.
