In 1894, Kabo reforms were started by pro Japanese Korean officials (Eckert). Kabo reforms were a form of social reform program that was largely borrowed from Japan. This essay was going to analyze the Kabo reforms of Korea in 1894 and compared it with the customary constitution of 2013.
After the implementation of Kabo reforms, the society was thoroughly transformed. Traditionally land used to belong to the king, although some definite land belonged to the families which were passed from one generation to the next and including communal land which was owned by clans. The Japanese conducted a land survey between 1910 and 1920 to place land ownership into the modern acreage. People who tilled their land for generally but could not legally prove that the land belonged to them had their land taken away from them. Those lands taken away came into control of the colonial government or into the hands of Japanese companies. So, some former landowners became landless or tenants in their previous land.
The Japanese built, new roads, railways, schools, hospitals and established a modern system of government (John B. Duncan). All these developments were meant to link Korea and Japan. These projects provided the native Koreans with employment opportunities. The Koreans worked at the lower levels of these projects. A majority of Koreans suffered under the Japanese rule. Farmers were forced out of their farms, and Korean workers working in Japanese companies were treated like slaves. The land under rice cultivation increased mainly for consumption in Japan. Japan laid down the foundation for impressive Korean growth, a small group of Koreans emerged who fostered a good relationship with Japan.
Three advances that happened after 1945 that are important to Korea's social modernisation are. First, was land reform done by United States and South Korean authorities from 1945 to 1950 (Eckert). All land held by the Japanese government was re-distributed to other people. The Korean government instituted most of these reforms and big land owners were forced to redistribute their land. A novel class of land owners was created. The second reason was the return of North Koreans to Korea. About 2 million Korean returned from Japan and other foreign countries. With the establishment of a communist government in the northern part of the country, the present day North Korea, a lot of Koreans ran to the south. The third development was the Korean War. Korea did not have an army of its own, despite the fact that, there were some Koreans who served in the Japanese national army. Naturally Koreans considered working for the army to be a low cadre job. So when the north invaded their country, the Korean army was turned into the saviour of the nation. And after 1961 the Korean army held a considerable amount of power. After the Korean War the worked of the military was to create a disciplined society.
That is both economically and socially advanced. The economic modernisation that was started by the Japanese brought a sizeable amount of social changes into the country. With schools sprouting up all over the country education grew considerably, and the construction of railway line and modern road brought modern technology and urbanisation in to the contemporary Korea. The military authority society brought about an emergence of a more continuous society. Contemporary South Korea is touted as being one of the outstanding economic models in the world. Korea has a poor endowment and a large population. South Korea rich history has led the country to experience a tremendous economic growth. Export leads economic growth has enabled South Korea to hasten it growth through identifying the strategic economic sectors that it would make discretionary resources to. This type of allocation of resources eliminated the pervasive collective allocation of resources experienced in most developing countries. But in 1997, an economic crisis threatened to derail all its economic growth, South Korea experience a dismal economic performance, there was a paralysis in the banking sectors, the corporate companies performed poor, low credit in the economy and no credit at all. The country was facing mounting external debts and liquidity crisis threatened to spread the Korea's fiscal meltdown to the region. Successive international monetary fund bailout, forced the Korean government to make structural reforms that re-made the Korean economy from a more semi mercantilist economy to a more market oriented one (John B. Duncan). In 1998, the economy recovered after Korea had implemented most of the reforms. There was an improved macro economic indicator from all over the various industries in the country.
The economic reforms of 1997 to 1998 has led the to be one of the countries with the highest GDP per head of $20,000 and the highest university enrollment ratios in the world, after the 1997 crisis the Korea stock market was fully opened to international investors. This led to Korean companies to be under pressure from their global shareholders making them increase short term profits by minimizing investments. Many of Korean employees were sacked and re hired as agency employees, doing the same job for a lower pay. Korean people live in constant fear of losing their jobs, forced retirement or major illness that will curtail them to life of misery. These fear factors has led the Korean students to study hard, because they believe that the better education they have the more protection they will have on the job market.
The nice thing about Korea is that they need not to worry about the future; Korea is the third most innovative country in the world. They have one of the highest registered patents in the world. Their future is in their hands, all they need to do is go to the window and look at their future, they act on their faith and envision their future and for sure they do make it.