South Korea Poised for Global Role

The election on Dec. 19 of Park Geun-hye as president of South Korea represents a milestone event in the remarkably rapid evolution of that country from wartime devastation to post-Cold War leadership. She is the first woman to be elected chief executive of her country, which alone represents significant forward movement in fairness, as well as democracy. This takes place in the context of one of the most extraordinary national success stories of our time. As recently as the early 1960s, South Korea was one of the poorest economies in the world. It was a peasant society and the entire Korean Peninsula had been devastated by the Korean War of 1950-53. Yet today, the Republic of Korea ranks among the top 20 economies in the world, holding leadership roles in the automobile, advanced electronics, shipbuilding and other industries.