Korea’s independence from imperialist Japanese colonialism during the colonial period at that time certainly ultimately had a fairly large-scale influence on several existing purely Korean aspects, including its long-term economic aspects. Certainly, difficulties were always struggling with the conditions of Korean society at that time. Unable to withstand the colonialism carried out by Japan, the Korean people went through many upheavals to be able to restore Korea’s sovereignty completely from within and outside the country until, on August 15, 1945, Korean independence simultaneously ended with World War II, which was marked by Japan’s defeat.

However, Korea’s fate was different from Indonesia’s, which both became Japanese colonies and were independent at the same time. Korea did not immediately gain complete independence, which could be felt immediately at the time of independence, like Indonesia, Korea had to be divided into two occupation zones, which at first only became an allied concept for a temporary solution at that time. Instead of being a solution, the division of territory in Korea was the beginning of war between brothers, which had an impact on instability in several aspects.

South Korea itself was included in the category of the poorest country in the world in the 1950s, and South Korea’s economy was even left behind by North Korea’s economy. This is because South Korea does not have natural resources that can be relied on apart from agriculture. Then, after looking at history, how can South Korea now become the 11th largest economic power in the world? South Korea’s lack of ownership of natural resources is not an obstacle for South Korea to become a country that is not advanced in the industrial sector. According to World Bank data, this is proven by a low unemployment rate, relatively equal distribution of income, and a 30-fold increase in GDP from 1960 to 2019.

The beginning of South Korea’s current economic achievements comes, of course, from South Korea’s movement in 1960, which carried out economic development with a focus on the export base of raw materials from small-scale factories, which was then followed by a lot of investment in heavy industrial facilities such as chemicals and iron factories. Steel and machine factories modernized with assistance from the United States. Each dynamic of economic improvement is called a five-year Development Plan from the beginning of Park Cung He’s leadership. We can call this name a sign to find out the beginning of planned development in South Korea. The five-year development plan from the first to the sixth period always has improvements with different characteristics in each aspect of what is carried out to achieve the main goals of the government, which from the start has implemented policies with a “growth pole” model, which means that development is planned and implemented not evenly throughout the region but rather concentrated in a few points which are also aligned with the advantages of that region to become a concentration variable that will be developed to encourage economic growth at that point in the region.

Such rapid economic progress, of course, cannot be separated from the South Korean government’s policy to simply encourage and become the basis for running a strong industry with competitiveness in South Korea’s economic growth process. The state’s role in making these policies is the most important factor in South Korea’s fantastical economic miracle. Even though there is a system of interdependence solely for economic stability between countries in the global economy, the South Korean government’s policy remains more focused on products produced by people with a good work ethic and the use of local domestic products. The South Korean government had issued a policy for companies to compete with each other domestically before 1997; for example, in the automotive industry, South Korea implemented a dumping strategy. The policy of competing with each other certainly has the aim of achieving economies of scale quickly. The more producers achieve targets in competition for production quality or product sales, the more the government will provide loans and incentives to companies.

Other policies that followed, such as borrowing capital through foreign loans, prevented intervention from other countries during the production development process of South Korean industry until it was commensurate with the quality of production from other countries’ industries. Then there was the formation of institutions in the export sector to further develop and there were many more active government interventions for economic growth, which can be proven by South Korea with its success in its financial sector, which is very impressive to be emulated by other countries, especially Indonesia.

Unsupportive natural resources are not a big influence in hindering the awesomeness of industrial development, but the awareness that a country like South Korea does not have many natural resources that can be exploited makes the country’s determination greater in encouraging South Korea’s industrial progress. Moreover, there is a factor in the quality of leaders in bringing the country to produce policies that are good strategies for developing the downstream industry. There are other factors, such as economic planning that is consistent with visionary design and availability of initial capital, as well as non-economic factors such as the good work ethic of people in a country and their love for their own country, which can be proven practically by using