The ‘Miracle on the Han River’ Was Made Possible by the Miracle on the Han River

- Market Principles That Built the World’s 10th-Largest Economy

- From Material Prosperity to a Full Bloom in Culture and the Arts

- We Must Strengthen the Market Economy to Produce More Miracles

Author Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. It is certainly something for the entire nation to celebrate and congratulate, yet controversy surrounding her novels—with claims such as “it distorts history” and “it is excessively obscene”—has stirred public debate. Whatever one may think of the content of her novels, one fact is clear: Han Kang was able to write such works because she was born and raised in free South Korea, and it is because of that that she was able to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Had she been born in North Korea, she would not have been able to write such works, nor would she have won the Nobel Prize in Literature. And yet there are many in our society who deny free South Korea. There are especially many such people in politics and in cultural circles.

South Korea is a successful country. When the government of the Republic of Korea was established in 1948, it was a poor nation with per capita income of less than $100. Today, it has grown into one of the world’s top 10 economies. It has become an advanced country with per capita income exceeding $30,000, and K-culture—K-pop, K-dramas, and K-food—is sweeping across the globe. South Korea is the only country to have risen to such development and success after overcoming the devastation of colonial rule and war. It is praised as the “Miracle on the Han River.” Why Nations Fail, written by Acemoglu and Robinson, this year’s Nobel Prize winners in economics, begins with South Korea’s success story. They explain that South Korea succeeded because it adopted an “inclusive system,” namely a capitalist market economy.

What transformed human life was the capitalist market economy. Since the introduction of the capitalist market economy after the Industrial Revolution, humanity has become more prosperous, and countries that put the capitalist market economy into practice have enjoyed abundance and prosperity. Countries that took the opposite path all went down a road of hardship. This is a historical fact that no one can deny.

A capitalist market economy, which defends individual freedom and is founded upon it, does not bring only material prosperity. It has also advanced spiritual and cultural life. This can be seen in the flourishing of cultural life after the Industrial Revolution. In 18th-century Britain, literature boomed, including Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, because the Industrial Revolution lowered the price of paper and increased people’s incomes, leading to greater book purchases. Likewise, the reason the Impressionist painters—poor and culturally marginal figures in the 19th century—were able to gain wealth and fame was that technological progress brought by the Industrial Revolution reduced the cost of art materials such as paints, brushes, crayons, and paper, making artistic production possible.

In a capitalist market economy society, freedom increases over time, and as markets develop, the forms of literature and art through which creative people can make a living and sustain themselves become more diverse. Beyond classical music, blues, rock and roll, jazz, disco, and hip-hop spread widely. In the past, writers could survive only by producing best-selling novels or plays, but today writers can earn a living in a wide variety of genres, including screenplays, biographies, travel writing, and webtoons.

Moreover, a prosperous economy allows diverse literary and artistic movements to coexist. Economic stability gives writers and artists room to reject socially conventional values. Avant-garde writers and artists who are hostile to the capitalist market economy can, paradoxically, exist because of the capitalist market economy. In truth, writers and artists who are not interested in wealth or material things are like luxury goods that only a prosperous society can afford.

In any society, those who are not interested in wealth or material things are only a minority. A capitalist market economy based on freedom is even more necessary for those who do not pursue material gain than for those who do. As seen in China’s Great Leap Forward and North Korea’s Chollima Movement, socialist states, contrary to the ideals they profess, actually pursue industrial production and material targets all the more intensely. In that process, they demand greater individual sacrifice. Therefore, those who wish to live apart from worldly life or pursue some spiritual goal beyond material things end up being persecuted. By contrast, the capitalist market economy allows individuals to pursue whatever goals they have, whether spiritual, material, or otherwise.

It was because of this “Miracle on the Han River” brought about by the capitalist market economy that Han Kang’s own “miracle” was possible. Rather than denying and condemning the capitalist market economy adopted by South Korea and trying to move away from it, we should reform institutions that restrict private property rights and competition and strive to move closer to a capitalist market economy system. Only then can we see a second and third Han Kang “miracle” emerge across many fields in the future.

Jaewook Ahn, Chairman, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 한강의 ‘기적’은 ‘한강의 기적’ 덕에 가능했다

Author: Jae-wook Ahn

Date: 2024-10-27

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=26973