ABSTRACT
One of the most important new tendencies in East Asian industrial transformation in the 1990s is the rapid growth of intra-regional trade. Labour-intensity in the components production and assembly are generally higher, while the industrial products segment is on average far more knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive. In order to handle the procured equipment, the domestic companies developed gradually the required managerial skills and hired low-cost female labour to assemble the basic components. A major change in the direction of Korean economic development began with the military government that took power in 1961. Its economic policy aimed at rapid industrial development based on a ‘growth-first’, export-oriented industrialization strategy active inducement of foreign capital and various institutional reforms. Selective industrial promotion laws oriented to sunrise industries, such as electronics and petrochemicals, were replaced by the Industrial Development Law in 1986, which mainly focused on restructuring.
