Regional Studies |
Author: Peter Banseok Kwon
| Reviewed by: Colonel Kevin Davidson, US Air Force, Northeast Asia foreign affairs officer, United States Africa Command Liaison Office
In this groundbreaking study, Peter Banseok Kwon uncovers how South Korea’s defense industry became the engine of its rapid modernization under President Park Chung Hee. Drawing on declassified archives and firsthand interviews, Kwon reveals a hidden alliance of military, scientific, and industrial forces that transformed Korea into a global economic power.
Cornerstone of the Nation reframes the “Miracle on the Han River” as a story of militarized industrialization, offering fresh insights into authoritarian development and Cold War geopolitics.
Keywords: militarized industrialization, sociopolitical, Cold War, authoritarianism, national identity