ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the unique character of Korea's industrial capitalism since its liberation from Japan in 1945. Korea's economic past of the last three decades, along with the other industrialising countries, has been hailed by the global community as a 'miracle'. As such, the '97 Asian crisis, especially the case of Korea casts critical questions on the overall picture of the Korean political economy. These include the government role in economic development, govemment-business-bank relationship, globalisation strategy, and labour issues. The chapter tackles those through an extensive analysis of the Korean political economy over the last four decades from the early 1960s to the 1997 financial crisis. It discusses the political, economic and historical background, which underpins the rise and fall of the Korean economy up to the recent entry to the International Monetary Fund's era. In particular, it analyses Korea's government-driven industrial policies and outcomes, which characterised the Korean political economy.
