Korea, North and South, have both emerged from difficult times with improved relations and the aim of boosting their respective economies. Korea, a divided land with a turbulent past. The end of the Korean War saw the country emerge as one of the poorest in the world. The following four decades, however, witnessed almost uninterrupted economical growth, with the result that it is now a country with one of the most impressive economic records in modern capitalism. There was of course a pronounced dip in this growth in the shape of the 1997 financial crisis, but Korea has since made a remarkably quick and strong recovery. This is largely due to supportive monetary and fiscal policies and much needed progress in structural reform. At the end of the Second World War the country was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet controlled North and US occupied South. Rival governments were established in 1948: The Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the South and the People's Democratic Republic of Korea in the North. Relations between the two factions were strained from the outset, escalating to breaking point in June 1950. The war lasted three years, claiming the lives of over 54,000 US soldiers with 103,000 wounded. Chinese and Korean losses were estimated to be at least 10 times higher, each.
展开▼
