Economic Elites of South Korea and Positions Thereof in the Political System

South Korea, along with its story of success in the field of economic development, has been the subject of a series of studies in the literature, dealing with the concept of chaebols, as distinctive actors in the said country’s economy. This article aims to analyze the relationship between South Korea's political elites and economic elites in the historical perspective and to define the chaebols as actors both influencing the economic policies and affected by them. During the independence process in the aftermath of the end of Japanese invasion in South Korea, chaebols emerged as important players by the privatization of the previously nationalized enterprises. After the Korean War, economic growth was driven by the planned strategies and then the import substitution strategy was replaced by export-driven growth due to both internal and external factors. During this strategy transition process, the economic elites engaged in a relationship that could be considered first as a hierarchical and then a horizontal manner. The institutional legacies of this relationship have certain characteristics that reproduce itself and still shape South Korea's domestic and foreign policy.