The Korean Economy in the New Industrial Revolution

On April 3rd, 2007, Yoo Jang-hee, a professor of international studies at Ewha Women's University, delivered a lecture titled "The Korean Economy in the New Industrial Revolution" to a group of American educators touring Korea as part of The Korea Society's 2007 Spring Fellowship in Korean Studies program. Professor Yoo spoke about Korea's role in the increasingly knowledge-based global economy. Surveying Korea's advantages-such as its highly trained workforce and advanced information infrastructure-and what he sees as its disadvantages-low levels of R&D funding and an unproductive education system-Yoo concluded that the Korean government needs to resume pro-growth policies and encourage private-sector initiatives in order to compete in this world's new industrial revolution.