I’m flipping through channels at 1am here in Seoul, and do you know what I see? Math problems– nutty professors, Korean-style, working out complex partial differential equations and geometric progressions with the intensity and flair of a concert pianist.
In fact, it’s not just one channel… it’s five, roughly 20% of the entire late night channel line-up.
When you think about it, this makes perfect sense. South Korea, once dismissed as an Asian backwater where American GIs defended the frontiers of freedom, has developed itself into a formidable economy on the back of an incredibly hard-working, educated, entrepreneurial culture.
GDP per-capita is now about $28,000 per person, making South Korea’s economy roughly equivalent to Italy, Israel, and New Zealand.
It shows. The landscape is well-developed with wide, clean highways, soaring skyscrapers (at very high occupancy), extensive port facilities, and a highly advanced digital infrastructure.
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