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Living
and Working in South Korea,
Asia's Newest Business Hub
By Steve McKinney,
(Portions of this article first appeared, in a different form, in the Korea
Times in June 2002)
South Korea’s living conditions and working environment are one of
the world’s best-kept secrets. Most Westerner’s ideas of South
Korea seem to have come from the popular TV show and movie M*A*S*H:
they imagine technologically backward, impoverished people living in isolation.
But South Korea today has nothing in common with those stereotypes. Only
remote parts of the country still have grass-hatched roofs and outdoor plumbing.
Now Korea is truly modernized in almost every sector of life, and it is
home to a significant number of foreign businesses.
If you think Seoul is small, think again. Korea’s capital city, which
is more than 2,000 years old, is home to more than 10 million people, approximately
22 percent of the country’s population. The Seoul metropolitan area
covers about 606 square miles, divided by the Han River. The city has been
growing continually since the 1970s, with particular expansion in satellite
cities around the area.
In 2001, Seoul celebrated the opening of the Incheon International Airport,
a first-class, streamlined facility that helps establish Seoul as the gateway
of Northeast Asia. This is especially important considering the significance
of Korea’s location in an area that links Japan and China, the two
largest consumer markets in Asia. The three countries together are home
to a fast-growing population of 1.7 billion people.
Korea is making great efforts to encourage direct foreign investment in
the country. Most economists predict this part of the world to be the planet’s
greatest commercial growth area in the next ten years. Korea is positioning
itself as the region’s hub for business activity.
How has Korea brought itself to such a position of strength and importance?
Korea’s human resources are perhaps its greatest assets. Koreans have
a well-deserved reputation of being able to accomplish just about anything
they want to through hard work and determination. The labor force is well
educated: Seoul alone has 42 universities and fifteen community colleges,
form which 70,000 people graduate each year.
Another of Korea’s business assets is its large number of foreign
chambers of commerce, which meet and discuss ways to improve trade and investment
between Korea and their members companies. The chambers put out directories
listing company information and other publications that help foreigners
establish business ties in Korea. They also work closely with the Korean
government on issues of concern to foreign businesses operating in the country.
Korea is a fully modernized country and the thirteenth largest economy in
the world. It’s well situated to be the hub of business activity in
northeast Asia
About Steve McKinney
Steve McKinney the president and CEO of McKinney
Consulting Inc., an executive search company serving multinational clients,
and the co-chairman of the Living in Korea Committee of the American
Chamber of Commerce.
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