South Korea’s “miracle” didn’t fall from the fucking sky. It was built through war, U.S. occupation, anti-communist repression, Japanese capital, state-directed development, disciplined labor and a regional imperial order designed to make capitalism look victorious against socialism. But the contradiction is vicious: the same system built Korean industry strong enough to become indispensable, produced workers powerful enough to break dictatorship, and tied Korean accumulation into an Asian economy increasingly centered on China. Now Washington wants the miracle to keep taking orders—more weapons, more shipyards, more investment, more war preparation. The problem is South Korea ain’t the weak frontier state it used to be.
The Miracle Was Supposed to Take Orders: South Korea and the Contradiction of American Power
