SHIPBUILDING, A LEADING SECTOR OF THE SOUTH KOREAN ECONOMIC TAKE-OFF (1954-PRESENT)

Abstract

After the Japanese economic take-off, South Korea went through another ‘‘miracle’’. More
so than in Japan, shipbuilding was a strategically significant sector of the Korean economic
take-off. Shipbuilding’s importance to Korea is even greater than that of electronics, and is a
result of the support of State-owned companies initially followed by that of privatised steel
companies. Shipbuilding has been a key element of Korea’s take-off, a decisive instrument of
catching up and has proven to be a significant means for a follower to make up for their late
arrival compared to leading industrial countries. Korean shipbuilding took advantage of its close
proximity with the most powerful steel complexes in the world, and supplanted Japan as the
world’s leading shipbuilding nation in 2000. From 2009 onwards, Korean shipbuilders were
able to compete effectively with Chinese competitors, thanks to a highly qualified workforce
working long hours, and to their strategic position in high-end products. This success, to a
large extent, was the result of close co-operation between the State and the chaebols that
had been initiated in the 1960s.