The Evolution of the Urban System in Korea 1910-1970 : An Economic Interpretation

Abstract

This paper attempts to review the process of urbanization in Korea within the context of a long-term dualistic model of development. Ordinarily, urbanization in Korea is examined in the light of the pressing problems of the seventies: the accelerating urbanization, the labor force explosion, the rapid change in the Korean value system, the everincreasing pollution, etc. These issues are most important but it is also interesting to examine the historical record and to see how it all began. More particularly we should like to examine the extent to which economic models of dualistic development help in organizing and interpreting the facts available on the Korean urbanization process.