South Korea and the world: a story of love ... and money

Audio 48:30

South Korean boy band BTS performs at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards © - MTV / AF

By: Bruno Faure Follow

2 min

Eco from here, Eco from elsewhere takes you on a journey to a country that fascinates the world, spreads its influence, even inspires some through its model.

This is South Korea, the 10th world power, with 52 million inhabitants, and in recent years a trump card: its cultural industry.

Music groups like BTS are all the rage among young people, TV series like Squid Game are the flags of soft power, a Korean wave with a Hallyu name that goes well beyond commercial success.  

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Because Korea is also fascinating for its economic success.

From a very underdeveloped country at the end of the war in the early 1950s, it has become a major power, with the famous chaebols, these growth engine conglomerates.

Companies that weigh very heavily internationally: LG, Hyundai, and especially Samsung.

What are the secrets of this Korean miracle?

What are its darkest sides too?

Why such a success abroad? 

Our guests :

-

, doctor in contemporary economic history and international business, lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, and researcher at the Institute for Research in Communication at Seoul National University. 

-

, doctor in cultural anthropology specializing in Korean studies.

Lecturer at Hongik University in Seoul.

You are also an associate researcher at the Korea Research Center of the EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences).

Our reports

► The chabeols, these giant conglomerates managed by the founding families, have been at the origin of the rapid growth of the country since the 1970s. Only one of them, the emblematic Samsung, alone accounts for 20% of the wealth created.

Who are they ?

How did they appear?

What do they represent in the country?

Some answers with the report in Seoul by Nicolas Rocca. 

CHAEBOLS REPORT

► South Korea does not only export movies and music.

Products of all kinds are also surfing this fashion.

Illustration in a few stores in New York, with a report by our correspondent Loubna Anaki.  

REPORT ON KOREAN PRODUCTS IN NEW YORK

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