Comments by "Winston Smith" (@kryts27) on "How the Rich Ate South Korea" video.

  1. Really, in a way, what has happened in South Korea with the Chaebol in the 1980s-1990s, is a microcosm of what happened in Japan with the Zaibatsu in the 1930s-1940s, with their similar corrupt influence on their national governments (except that Japan had colonized Manchuria and the Zaibatsu wanted a slice of that pie). The difference being that the Zaibatsu was partially forcably broken up immediately after WW2 by the Supreme Commander Allied Powers (of Japan), and the Chaebol had not faced such an imposition from losing an international war in the mid-20th century. Both have played a leading role of the elites in these countries, and their political and economic effect of these mega-company industrial combines (controlled by a small number of families and very wealthy individuals) is both beneficial to their countries (in their growth phase), but also malignant in stifling small to medium business competition and growth and hence employment of Koreans long-term, as well as skewing national politics to their own conservative interests. Particularly, since like Japan, Korea is undergoing an aging population demographic crises since 2000, with low immigration to offset that economic malaise.
    189