International relations and geo political crisis usually have ramifications that go well beyond what we’re shown or lead to believe. The “crisis” with North Korea has preoccupied the media for years now. In the past few months, it’s threatened relations between the US, China, Russia and South Korea. And it’s distracted South Korea from its internal economic problems. Problems that got their President impeached and jailed. Who wins when South Korea’s economy flounders?
While Kim Jong-un is getting the headlines in South Korea, there’s an equally problematic threat on the horizon: an underperforming economic regime.
Economist Lee Jong-wha doesn’t mince words in a new Project Syndicate op-ed, headlined “South Korea’s Looming Crisis.”
Nor is the Korean University professor being bombastic as he urges newish President Moon Jae-in not to wait even a second to tackle structural impediments to increased wages, greater income equality and a troubled industrial model. Read more here.