[lbo-talk] SK vs. NK

[Luke Weiger]

>>>I don't have stats for the 1950s at hand, but in the 1960s, S Korea
received a total of $1.6 billion in "official unrequited transfers" -
free money from foreign governments, meaning U.S. aid. The aid shrank
as the decade passed and SK's economy grew, but from 1960-62, the aid
averaged almost 8% of GDP; for the decade as a whole, it was 4% of
GDP. That's a pretty big number, that allowed SK to finance a large
merchandise trade deficit painlessly.

Doug<<<

How much aid did the North Koreas receive from the Soviets and Chinese?
Would it have been impossible for SK to deal with their trade deficit in the
absence of US aid?

-- Luke