time and costs by learning from the pioneer ’ s experience and following in their footsteps where they took the right path. in addition, because followers leapfrog some steps in the course of economic development, they can achieve compressed growth and develop faster than the vanguard. in this respect, as korea is presently ahead of nepal in economic development, i think that we are in a fortunate position to give a lot of help. if you wish, the bank of korea will be happy to further expand our cooperation and friendship with the nepal rastra bank. closing remarks thanks to advances in it technology and transport, nepal and korea are now closer together than before. many korean trekkers visit nepal every year and thousands of nepalese are working in korea. besides this, nowadays, pashimina shawls woven in nepal are becoming very popular in korea. it is my profound hope that this workshop will offer a useful opportunity to deepen still further the excellent relationship between nepal and korea and to help nepal ’ s economic development and financial reform. thank you for your listening so attentively.

seung park : nepalese economic development in the light of korea ’ s experience keynote speech by dr seung park, governor of the bank of korea, at the workshop on “ managing non - performing asset ” hosted by nepal rastra bank, kathmandu, 12 november 2003. * * * opening remarks let me begin by expressing my deep thanks to dr. tilak rawal, governor of nepal rastra bank, and to all persons concerned for having invited me to address this workshop. nepal is well known to koreans as a country of splendid natural beauty, largely made up by the himalayas, which include the world ’ s highest peaks such as mount everest. i am aware that nowadays the nepalese people are trying to achieve a dramatic economic leap forward. they look to korea as a country that transformed itself from ‘ the land of morning calm ’ to a dynamic industrial nation, now the world ’ s 12th largest economy in gdp terms. in this context, i believe, nepal rastra bank has invited specialists from the financial supervisory commission and the korean asset management corporation and myself to today ’ s workshop. as governor of the bank of korea and scholar of economic development theory, i would like to share my thoughts with you about the economic development of nepal in the light of our experiences in korea. korea ’ s experience in economic development korea ’ s past history had involved a constant struggle against poverty. in korea, mountains make up some 70 % of the total land area - not so very different from nepal. korean people lived out their lives on this narrow cultivable land for a long time. we could not escape from the enduring state of extreme poverty because of a lack of natural resources, perennial floods and droughts, and so on. however, during a period of less than half a century, korea ’ s story has changed from one of poverty to one of economic success. per capita income, no more than 80 dollars in 1960, reached 10 thousand dollars last year. in the course of this change, korea has transformed itself from a closed farming country to an open industrial nation. it now exports many high - tech it products such as semiconductors, communication devices, computers, and lcds. in the 1960s, the early stage of economic development, we mainly produced labor - intensive goods for export. korea had been unable to accumulate capital and obtain the raw materials needed, let alone the technology. worse still, the domestic market was limited. the only domestically available resource was a good - quality labor force.