South Korea’s remarkable transformation from a resource-poor, low-income country to an industrialised nation in just a few decades has been hailed as one of the most noteworthy developmental success stories in modern times.

South Korea accelerated its economic development through the careful management of the various stages of the country’s agricultural reform and industrial transformation and by encouraging a positive spirit of agency among its people. In a few decades, South Korea’s economic development strategy lifted the nation out of poverty and set it on a path of high economic growth...