ABSTRACT
Many of the factors that contributed to the rapid postwar growth of South Korea's economy, then, were common to a number of countries in the region. One of the natural conditions enabling the South Korean government to intervene economically with such success is that Korea is a small country. The Korean people trace their origins to the founding of the state of Choson by the mythical god-man Tan'gun in 2,333 B.C. on the banks of the Taedong River in the northwest portion of the peninsula. The North Korean attack against South Korea in June 1950 provoked an abrupt reversal in American policy on Korea, however, and the United States deployed a massive military force to engage the North Korean and Chinese forces. Park Chung Hee's death and the subsequent removal of his key lieutenants from the scene ushered in a period of euphoria in which virtually everyone in South Korea anticipated the introduction of democracy.
