WHY ARE NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA SO DIFFERENT?
In Modern Korea: All That Matters, award-winning author Andrew Salmon argues that South Korea is the greatest national success story of the twentieth century. From the ashes of war, it transformed itself, against the odds - and against much advice - into an industrial powerhouse and thriving democracy.
North Korea is an economic, social and political disaster, successful only at totalitarianism. Engulfed by paranoia, the regime presides over a malnourished populace, a 1.1 million man army and a nuclear arsenal.
From nuclear missiles to Samsung smartphones; from assassins to salarymen; from Kim Il-sung to Psy; this is the extraordinary story of the flashpoint peninsula that dominates talk in boardrooms and newsrooms. Korea, the author argues, provides two stark benchmarks for national development: epic success and catastrophic failure. And its final chapter has yet to be written.
This accessible and readable book will appeal to both students and general readers, who want to understand Modern Korea and what matters most about it.