Seoul is placing a priority on new cultural infrastructure and the reuse of old buildings as ways of encouraging creativity, with several venues having opened in A former oil depot, The Oil Tank Culture Park, is now a major cultural landmark attracting artists and creatives to the area. The Upcycling Plaza combines culture with the opportunity to learn about sustainability. The SeMA Bunker, a former military bunker, is home to experimental arts projects and special exhibitions.
Meanwhile, the city is also balancing the need for new and innovative cultural forms with the preservation of its historic cultural assets, as so many have been lost throughout its troubled history.
Development of the city began in earnest once it was appointed the capital of the Joseon Dynasty - in The framework for modern-day Seoul began to emerge as the construction of electrical facilities, railroads, streetcar tracks, parks, waterworks systems, schools, and hospitals commenced at the end of the 19th century with the opening of the port.
However, Seoul soon came under the influence of Japanese colonialism - This was followed by gradual industrialization, which in turn led to the formation of illegal settlement areas around the city. With these peripheral regions quickly being considered as within the scope of the city, Seoul began to transform into a new residential zone.
After Korea achieved independence in , the city was officially renamed Seoul Metropolitan City. However, as the Korean War broke out, the city fell into ruin. In the s, Seoul rapidly grew out of the ashes of the war and, supported by rapid economic growth, it advanced to become a global megalopolis in just half a century. But the exploitative agricultural policy of the colonial regime resulted in the exodus of poor tenants and farm laborers to Japan, Manchuria, and cities on the Korean peninsula throughout the colonial period.
The urban population increased from 2. In sum, Korea experienced the largest diaspora of any country in the first half of the twentieth century. Adding to this, a population movement developed from North to South Korea immediately following the liberation and continued through the civil war. The destitute migrants headed for cities, and the cities experienced population explosions. The baby boom added difficulties to an already desperate economy.
At this moment of crisis, the country started on its path toward development and modernization. Mortality rates declined, and the life expectancy of Koreans increased from 37 years, during , to 52 years during Increasing population growth rates exacerbated pressures on land resources. The process of population stabilization began in the early s. Responding to the high population pressure coupled with extreme poverty, the government became more involved in family planning. Fertility began to decline rapidly in the mid s and reached the bare population replacement level in the mid s.
Fertility transition had progressed at a tempo unprecedented in any demographic history, taking only 20 years to complete. The process of fertility transition has been closely related to economic development and urbanization, which are regarded as major forces in the change in the fertility rate. But, in the case of Korea, societal transformation after has been holistic. These factors were interrelated and constituted three major dimensions of the transformation. It is often argued, too, that traditional values and systems are detrimental to fertility transition as well as economic development, but the Korean experience does not support this argument.
The traditional family system—particularly the institutional preference system of children in terms of gender and birth order in the family—is found to have played a pivotal role in the dissemination of the one- or two-child family ideal. For example, the first son is most valued and can satisfy all functional necessities of the family according to the traditional family system.
This can be interpreted to support one-son or one-child family ideals if the risk of child death is minimal. Other cultural traits—such as parental obligation to support children for their worldly success, and the authoritarian involvement of the state leadership in family planning—are regarded as having been important factors in the rapid fertility reduction. With fertility transition, mortality has declined without interruption.
Life expectancy at birth was estimated to be Population aging was a direct outcome of these demographic trends. The proportion of the population aged 65 and older was 2. The fertility decline also brought about significant reductions in family size.
The average household size decreased from 5. Profound changes have been noticed in every field of life since In , the government began a series of 5-year national plans for economic development, and the national economy began to grow rapidly.
The per capita GNP rose from about 80 dollars in to 1, dollars in , and passed the 10,dollar mark in the mid s, before the country faced an international financial crisis at the end of The per capita GNP plunged to 6, dollars in , but recovered to the 10,dollar mark in , and the government declared that the financial crisis had ended in Concomitant changes in material life have been apparent.
For instance, the number of registered motor vehicles increased times over, from 31, to 11,,, between and , while population was less than doubled in the same period. The main mechanism for economic development was government-led industrialization.
Realizing the fact that Korea is a country of rare natural resources and abundant educated manpower, the newly-installed military government, led by President Park Jung-hee, pursued a labor-intensive and export-oriented industrialization. For this, the government allowed labor exploitation by banning labor unions, encouraged production of consumer goods, and built infrastructure, such as highways.
Despite strong oppositions, President Park dictated an industrial policy to strategically develop heavy and chemical industries in the late s. President Park not only quelled opposition voices, he also successfully mobilized public support for the drive. In recent years, many comparative studies on East Asian development list the Confucian tradition as one of the key elements in the economic miracle. It includes centralized authoritarian bureaucracy, emphasis on worldly success, high valuation of learning, and a universal principle in recruiting government officials.
These cultural elements still prevail in Korean society and guide the behavior of Korean people. The state-initiated economic drive contributed to the creation of Chaebol groups, or business conglomerates, although their role in economic development is greatly disputed. Chaebols played a key role in the building of heavy industries such as car manufacturing and ship building, in export promotion, and in the creation of jobs.
On the other hand, their expansionist, nepotistic, and monopolistic management stifled the nurturing of professional managers, the growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the equitable distribution of wealth. Another important social contribution of economic development was the growth of a middle class, the very backbone of democracy.
Despite economic success, the political participation of the people had been greatly suppressed until , when a democratization process, which was symbolized by the constitutional change to elect the President through a popular vote, signaled the end of the year rule of the military dictatorship. It is widely acknowledged, however, that the growth of the middle class was the most vital conditional factor in the struggle for democracy.
Long-suppressed problems and issues surfaced with democratization, including environmental problems, human rights issues, labor-related issues, and welfare concerns.
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