By the time I was finishing this book, the Journal of World Trade, a premier journal in the field of international trade law and policy with which I have the privilege of association, decided to run a special issue on trade and development. Wishing for the success of the special issue, I shared my small thoughts on an interesting aspect of development with my colleagues, which I would also like to share with my readers of this book.

Many consider development primarily in terms of economic improvement. The approach is not incorrect, but there are other, perhaps more important, human sides to development. Development brings more than an increase in the income figure; it brings the people a sense of confidence, pride, joy, and responsibility. If readers would bear with me for a few more pages, I would like to talk about these “other sides” by telling you the tales of my birth country, Korea, and of my own family, who lived through the ages of the Korean development.

When the late President Park Jung Hee started development initiatives in 1962, South Korea was not only among the poorest nations in the world by any economic standard, but also torn up from inside. The physical and psychological horrors of the Korean War were still vivid in the memories of Korean people. The remnants of brutal foreign rule, which enslaved millions of Koreans, were still lingering in the minds of many Koreans.