When workers saw the wealth that was accumulating in the chaebŏl , they demanded higher wages . The Park government , however , resisted any loosening of control over the workforce . It argued that worker unrest was a threat to national security that would destabilize the country and invite intervention by Communist North Korea . Park used the national security argument to make himself a virtual dictator by 1974 , ruling by decree and outlawing all criticism of himself or his style .”
Document C Korea ’ s Place in the Sun ; A Modern History , Bruce Cumings , 1997 . 335-336 .
The Korean model of development had its heyday during Park ’ s years from 1961 to 1979 , and as they ended the economy briefly ran into a period of crisis . The economy lost 6 percent of the GNP in 1980 , and exports did not really rebound until 1983 . [ With the support of Japan ’ s government and Export-Import Bank loans ] combined with American support helped South Korea escape its economic crisis .
The big push , which had contributed to the last 1970s economic difficulties became a great boon to the Korean economy in the mid-1980s as Korean exports of heavy industrial goods took off and the economy grew by more than 12 percent a year from 1985 through 1988 …. Korea ’ s unionization rate has remained low by international standards ; about 12 percent in 1985 , it was up to 18 percent by 1990 – about the American rate of unionism , but much lower than European rates …. The total value of the stock market increased 28-fold in the period 1980-1989 . In the early 1990s Korea was the ninth largest market in the world , and expected to be the fourth largest by the year 2000 . Meanwhile , the chaebŏl , tired of generals coming in and seizing their property or telling them what industries to invest in , clearly moved in the same direction as the middle class , toward democratic elections and the rule of law .”
Doc . D Korea : Division , Reunification , and U . S . Foreign Policy , Martin Hart-Landsberg , 1998 . 181-182 .
“ It is noteworthy that although Park ’ s state-centered economic approach directly contradicted past U . S . recommendations … the U . S . government did not actively object . Apparently , the United States was willing to accept whatever was necessary to ensure the victory of ‘ free ” South Korea over “ red ” North Korea . Thus , as long as the Cold War contest remained in doubt , and as long as South Korean growth was sustained , the United States was prepared to grant Park a degree of freedom to set policy that it granted few other leaders .
Park received money from the United States by agreeing to send South Korean troops to fight in Vietnam . Some 300,000 went , and according to the terms of a secret arrangement , the U . S . government paid a bonus in dollars for each of them . The United States also agreed to purchase war supplies in South Korea , allow South Korean firms to act to purchase war supplies in South Korea , allow South Korean firms to act as subcontractors for construction and service work in Vietnam , and modernize the South Korean military .”
98
93