ABSTRACT

Korea has been characterized by many analysts as a newly-industrializing country whose spectacular success is attributable to its market-driven, increasingly liberal economic policies, and by many others as a mercantilistic state whose rapid industrialization and success in export markets have been primarily government-driven. The trade-policy events that unfolded in Korea during the first year of the 1990s contained all of the dramatic elements found in the evolution Korean trade policy. As 1990 began, Korea was in the midst of another trade-liberalization program. Korean trade policies in the 1990s will continue to reflect a balance of pressures. South Korea’s trade-related objectives in the 1990s can be summarized in four broad categories: export-based economic growth; diversification of Korea’s exports in terms of both product and partner; a restructuring of the Korean economy, particularly toward high technology products; and continued strong relations with the United States.