[Viewpoint] Suddenly an Advanced Country

Suh Yonggu, Dean of the Graduate School of Business at Sookmyung Women's University

This summer at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), South Korea became the first country to be upgraded from a developing country to an advanced nation. Is South Korea truly an advanced country? In the recently published book titled "Suddenly an Advanced Country," author Park Tae-woong emphasizes, "South Korea has suddenly become an advanced country and grown in size, but various social indicators remain at developing country levels. There is an urgent need to develop new indicators that can correct this asymmetry." This view is hard to disagree with. Over the past 60 years, South Korea has adopted Anglo-American capitalism and, among the 195 countries worldwide that are members of the United Nations (UN), it ranks at the top globally in terms of the 'speed' of economic and urban development. However, at the same time, it ranks outside the top 100 in fertility rate, gender equality, elderly poverty rate, suicide rate, and national happiness index, placing it among the lowest in the world. The coexistence of world-class highs and lows is the peculiar reality of the Republic of Korea today.

South Korea is now recognized as a top 10 country in both hard power and soft power. It has grown into a top 10 nation in terms of hard power indicators such as military strength and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It ranks 5th in the global e-commerce market size, 6th in military power, 7th in exports, and 9th in GDP worldwide. Particularly, its transportation and communication infrastructure, healthcare system, internet speed and quality are recognized as the best in the world, and the cost-effectiveness of intercity travel, subways, and high-speed rail is unparalleled. Let’s compare the high-speed rail speeds and fares of South Korea, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Traveling 280 km from Seoul Station to Dongdaegu Station takes 90 minutes and costs 40,000 KRW, whereas the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Fukushima, a similar distance, takes 95 minutes and costs 110,000 KRW. In the UK, traveling from London to Chester takes 120 minutes and costs 110,000 KRW. Considering travel time and fare alone, South Korea has achieved world-class cost-effectiveness in transportation mobility, making it a mobility-advanced country.

Despite these achievements, the number of people perceiving South Korea as "Hell Joseon" is rapidly increasing. The number of people renouncing South Korean nationality rose sharply from 6,961 over seven years between 2010 and 2016 to 11,352 in just three years from 2017 to 2019. Since 2017, the abandonment of Korean nationality has surged. In 2021, an average of 38 people committed suicide daily in South Korea, and the fertility rate was recorded at 0.92, one of the lowest in the world. The youth unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 29 shows no signs of improvement, and the average apartment sale price in the Seoul metropolitan area has exceeded 1 billion KRW. For the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), women, and impoverished elderly, South Korea appears close to being "Hell Joseon."

A country with two faces?one as a top 10 global economic power and the other as "Hell Joseon"?has one final hurdle to overcome to become a true advanced nation: building social trust. All economic actors, including politicians and businesspeople, must raise their ethical intelligence to build a high-trust nation. People must refrain from harming others and be able to respect one another. Socially vulnerable groups such as foreign workers and women after childbirth must be given greater respect. Efforts to improve the situation must begin immediately. The problems are already well known. Now, the entire population must come together to create a better society. If South Korea raises its ethical intelligence by just one level, it can truly join the ranks of advanced countries.