Introduction

Koreans in the north and the south want to knit the two halves of the peninsula together to overcome the tragedy of national division, and many in north and south want to integrate themselves into the global community to continue along the road to prosperity already mapped by the south. Confucian political culture, socialism, and the critical, anti-materialistic values of a post-modern view of the world have created a unique Korean bias against capitalism. The Korean development state required a high degree of economic and political insularity to function effectively, but as economic success came, the imperative to move industries abroad and to search for new markets has become overwhelming. Serious economic and political globalization began in the early 1990s. With entry into the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in December 1996, Korea began to dabble deeply with the international neo-classical economy without sufficient preparation for the transition from the development state model.