Korean development model study on cards

Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board to carry out a study on how to transfer the economic development model of Korea to Zimbabwe.
The research project, to be completed within a year, will involve no less than 10 professors from Yonsei University under the guidance of Prof Young-Ryeol Park, an expert in global management and marketing.

The research will be composed of several distinctive areas of macro-economic stability, financial markets, trade and foreign direct investment policy, industrial policy and Government budgeting. Initial indications are that the study would cost US$150 000.
According to an executive summary of the research project proposal entitled Transferring the Korean Development Model to Zimbabwe, the researchers will analyse the current situation for the

Zimbabwe economy and estimate the time lag between the two countries in each area.
The researchers will also review the past development policies of Korea in each area and will seek for ways on how to transfer them to Zimbabwe.
The researchers will also make policy suggestions to the Government to ensure the successful transfer of the model to this country. The research will be carried out in a comprehensive manner so that policy suggestions for each area do not conflict with the others.

Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere and NIEEB chairman Mr David Chapfika signed the memorandum of understanding with the Korean institution with indications that the study could commence at the beginning of next year.

The Korean development model has been widely seen to be appropriate to Zimbabwe, as it is the only other country, besides Taiwan, that has managed to achieve per-capita-income of US$20 000 through rapid industrialisation after the Second World War.

Korea’s per-capita income level as at 1953 was only US$67 and very few other developing countries have managed to successfully raise their income levels.
“Except for oil-rich countries, only four economies have actually achieved per-capita income levels of US$20 000. They are Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. However Singapore and Hong

Kong are city-state economies whose experiences cannot be replicated by other developing economies,” says the research proposal.
“The unique experience of Korea can be a good example to other developing countries who wish to increase their income through industrialisation. Korea has achieved these accomplishments against all odds such as poor endowment of natural resources and the division of the Korean Peninsula in 1945.

“The devastating effect of the Korean war in the 1950s, the military coup of 1961, oil shocks in the 1970s, democratisation movements of the 1980s, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global financial crisis are some critical landmarks. Korea’s experience shows how a developing country can overcome the adversities and turn them into their advantages.”

One of the broad objectives of the study is to improve the living standards of Zimbabweans by initialising an industrialisation process similar to the one Korea did several decades ago. This can be achieved by establishing a sustainable growth path that the economy does not need to rely on foreign aid and remittances from abroad for the daily functioning of the economy.