> Korea
> could stand a bit more developmental-statism, by the looks of it.
And that's precisely what they're getting. Most of the assets of Korea Inc. were protected by the Government during the 1997-98 meltdown; the Government stepped in and bailed out the chaebol, forcing certain groups to merge operations, and selling only the most unusable carcasses (and remarkbly few ones at that) to Western multis. The Korean Gov't currently owns 75% of the Korean banking system, incidentally. Credit, both literal and figurative, is also due to yet another massive Japanese bailout package (200 billion euros or something like that).
I'm mystified as to why the ANC hasn't had the guts to even look at the Asian developmental states seriously. Have they sent experts, economists etc. to these countries? OK, so there's no wealthy US, EU or Japan to provide forex coverage, but you could at least learn a thing or two about education infrastructures and industrial targeting.
-- Dennis