The record of development in South Korea over the past three decades has drawn the praise of businessmen, the envy of Third World leaders, and the belated scrutiny of Western scholars. The story has given hope to many working to alleviate poverty and spur national development in less developed areas. Is there a model of Korean development with lessons pertinent to other areas of the world? Curiosity soon leads us from admiration to analysis, from consequence to cause, from present to past. As yet, however, few studies of the origins of private enterprise or government economic policy in South Korea are available. The commercial and industrial growth of Japan's leading prewar colonies of Korea and Taiwan lead some to suggest the colonial experience contributed greatly to subsequent economic growth, while others find little more than economic exploitation in the years of Japan's rule. Such polemics offer little insight into the beginnings of modern capitalism on the peninsula. If the Korean road to economic prosperity is to influence development strategies elsewhere we can ill afford to overlook origins in the rush to analyze recent success.

Dramatic changes in the way Koreans lived and worked marked three and a half decades of colonial rule under Japan.