Introduction Globalization is a phenomenon that has had a variety of effects on different countries in the world and to which all countries have reacted to just as differently. South Korea is one of the countries that has greatly benefitted from free trade and open markets. Within the span of three decades, South Korea transformed itself from a developing country suffering the after-effects of war to a country that can compete with the developed nations of the West. At the end of the Second World War, there was great turbulence in Korea which was as yet officially undivided. Korea gained independence from Japan who had ceded to the United States in 1945. There was a struggle between the North and the South; it was a pit against communist Russia against anti-communist America and the end result was a torn Korea with the South going to the Americans and the North in the hands of the Russians. This would greatly influence the two states’ economic growth because of their responses to international trade. South Korea between 1980 and 1990 Business cycles General Park had an ambitious plan for South Korea, to transform it from a mediocre third world country into a competitive economy on the international platform. His vision was achieved through sheer grit and careful planning that was implemented in three and five year phases. This saw the country survive the post Korean war crisis into a stabilizing economy at the beginning of the eighties decade. At the beginning of the eighties decade, Park implemented another phase of his plans; the focus was moved from labor intensive industries toward the heavy and chemical industries (HCI). President Park used the ‘Chaebols’ to achieve his industrialization aspirations. The Chaebol system constituted the building up of export oriented industries focusing on six major sectors namely steel, petrochemicals, shipbuilding industry, electronics, machinery and non-ferrous metals. This was coupled with discouraging labor unions that fought for the workers’ rights. It demonstrated how heavy handed and authoritative Chung Park was as a ruler. His approach to tackling dissent was quelling it instead of trying to work out the underlying issues (Kim, pg 455). In the earlier part of the eighties, South Korea’s growth hit a snag due to a confluence of factors. The most pressing of this was the international oil shock that resulted in oil prices rising to six times their original value. Because of the high cost of production, there was a corresponding decrease in demand for South Korea’s exports. The factors that contributed to the economic downturn of the late eighties could be pinned down primarily to the decline of the Chaebols which had grown extensively and had become too big to run and manage effectively. There was also stiff competition from other industries that were unrelated to the HCIs such as agriculture. With South Korea’s wealth came higher costs of living which resulted in the rise cost of human labor. Chaebols also faced competition from other Asian countries on the international market that had cheaper labor with their major competition being China who still had access to cheap human labor (Guillen, pg 213). At the same time, there was the rapid growth of the building industry in the Middle East which saw South Korea’s casual laborer’s flocking to these countries and creating a deficit