Beyond the Korea Discount: Seeking the harmony between material affluence and spiritual maturity

This is a book about what South Korea has achieved so far from the wreckage of the Korean War in 1950 and why it is continuously being undervalued in many aspects by foreigners. Korea is the unique country still divided into two parts, the South and the North. Unfortunately it is still the case that many people around the world confuse the South with the North. This is a vivid evidence that South Korea, unlike China and Japan, is least known to people in the world.
South Korea has been transformed from a totally agrarian country into an advanced industrial one within 50 years. It was one of the poorest countries until the early 1960s. However, as of 2012, South Korea was ranked around 10th in the world in terms of overall economic power. Its GDP was ranked 15th, its combined market capitalization was ranked 11th, its amount of trade was ranked 9th, and its foreign reserves were ranked 5th in the world . Moreover, the worldly renowned companies like Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors, and POSCO are representative corporations based on the Korean soil.
Although South Korea is the unique country that achieved the successful economic development and democratization simultaneously among many nations liberated from the colonial status after World War Two, its remarkable achievement has hardly been praised by foreigners. Even many intellectuals in America, England and other European countries are not well aware of what South Korea has achieved up to now. This is partially due to their indifference to South Korea and partially due to Koreans' passive attitude toward propagating their cultural traditions and historical background. As a Korean concerned about the future of my country, I try to delve into the reason why South Korea is still undervalued in many areas by most foreigners.
The Korea discount is a frequently used term for describing this phenomenon by the Economist, Financial Times and other magazines. They insist that Korean stocks should be discounted because of the poor governance structure of those companies under the umbrella of the chaebol, which is a Korean term for a conglomerate or a business group. I agree with them in the sense that the chaebol are fully responsible for the Korea discount prevalent in the stock market. However, I want to extend my argument about the Korea discount to other areas because many other areas of South Korea are also being undervalued by foreigners. Unlike China and Japan, South Korea seems to be kind of nobody to them.
I claim in this book that the chaebol are responsible for the Korea discount in almost all aspects. For showing this, I tried to describe the enormous economic power of the chaebol in the Korean economy in detail by analyzing the recent data about them. Among many chaebol, a special attention is given to the dominating one, namely Samsung Group. I tried to prove that their huge economic power is the primary source of the Korea discount in almost all areas. Together with this, I analyzed the peculiar emotional aspects of Koreans from the cultural and historical perspectives because these aspects are closely related with the Korea discount. This implies that the primary cause for the Korea discount originates from us, not from foreigners. On the other hand, I tried to show that Koreans have a potential to convert the Korea discount into the Korea premium if they can meet certain conditions in the near future.
I tried to provide those who want to know more about the truet state of South Korea with more accurate knowledge and information by all means. I hope them to find that this book is informative and enjoyable.