The Korean Miracle: Metrics of a Modern Developed Nation

韩国作为发达国家,到底发达在哪?

Economist

2026-01-22

30 分钟
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  • I want you to close your eyes for a second.

  • We're going to do a little bit of time travel today.

  • Okay, I'm intrigued.

  • We aren't going back to ancient Rome or the Industrial Revolution.

  • We are going back to 1953.

  • It's not that long ago really.

  • In the grand scheme of things, it's a single human lifetime.

  • Exactly.

  • My grandfather was alive.

  • Your parents might have been alive.

  • It's recent history.

  • It really is.

  • So imagine it's 1953 and we are standing in the middle of the Korean Peninsula.

  • But I don't want you to picture the neon lights of Seoul or the skyscrapers of Busan.

  • I want you to erase all of that.

  • You have to wipe the slate clean.

  • Cleaner than clean.

  • The source material we are looking at today uses a phrase that really stuck with me.

  • What was it?

  • It describes the setting as true ruins.