Ukraine and South Korea: a shared strategy for growth under constant threat

Today, Ukraine is a real-time laboratory of resilience. We are going through a phase similar to what South Korea experienced in the 1950s–1960s: a devastated economy, a lasting security threat, and the understanding that survival is possible only through economic transformation. This is why Ukraine’s experience is not only a story of endurance and resilience, but also a practical case study for nations developing under long-term security risks. For South Korea — a country that has combined economic growth with permanent security challenges for decades, this experience is not abstract, but strategically relevant. This historical similarity, alongside differences in the intensity of threats, makes the dialogue between Ukraine and South Korea uniquely meaningful. At the same time, although our histories and sensibilities offer many points of connection, Ukrainians and Koreans are, in essence, shaped by rather different mindsets. This is a distinction I both sense and understand clearly. South Korea built its economy for decades knowing that the threat from the North would not disappeWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times