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South Korea has not merely grown fast. It has combined growth with democracy. Though its spurt began under a military dictator, Park Chung-hee, for the past 25 years the country has had a vibrant parliamentary system. Korea scores the same as Japan in the democracy tally kept by Freedom House, a think-tank in Washington, DC. No other Asian country does as well. At the same time Korea has combined growth with equity. Between 1980 and 1997, its Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, fell from 0.33 to an exceptionally low 0.28, before rising back up during the 1997-98 Asian crisis. In 2010, the level was 0.31, a bit worse than Scandinavian countries, a bit better than Canada.

A model that worked

Now Korea can add resilience to its roster of achievements. It was walloped during the global financial crisis, but recovered faster than any other rich country. Between June 2008 and February 2009, Korea lost 1.2m jobs. South Korea’s relatively open financial system made it vulnerable to the volatility in world markets, a vulnerability that continues. This September, foreigners withdrew over 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) from the stock market and the currency slumped 10%.
Yet in 2010, GDP grew by 6%. This year’s expansion is likely to be 4%. The unemployment rate is now a covetable 3%. Some of the recovery is the result of Korea’s happy dependence on China: it exports more capital goods to China relative to the size of its economy than anyone else, even Germany. But this is only part of the explanation (which is just as well given China’s slowdown). The government also initiated a public-works scheme that is mopping up over 2% of the labour force. It introduced an old-age pension and began, then expanded, an earned-income tax credit. All this from President Lee Myung-bak, who was once chief executive officer of Hyundai Construction and is widely assumed to be excessively friendly to big business.

A. 어휘
spurt 용솟음, 急騰(급등), 噴出(분출). vibrant 躍動(약동)하는, 진동하는.
parliamentary system 의회제도. tally 計定(계정), 계산, 득표.
equity 공평, 공정. coefficient 係數(계수). measure 尺度(척도).
income inequality 소득 불평등. exceptionally 예외적으로.
resilience 탄력. roster 名簿(명부). wallop 비틀거리다, 강타하다.
global financial crisis 세계적 금융 위기.
relatively 상대적으로. open financial system 개방적 금융 제도.
vulnerable 脆弱(취약)한, 상처입기 쉬운. volatility 변덕, 휘발성.
withdrew 引出(인출)하다. over =more than. trillion 1兆(조).
currency 通貨(통화). slump 폭락하다. expansion 팽창.
covetable 탐낼만한. capital goods 資本財(자본재).
relative to ...에 비례하여. initiate 시작하다, 唱導(창도)하다.
public-works 공공 토목사업. mopping up 착취하다, 소탕하다.
pension 연금. earned-income tax 근로 소득세.
chief executive officer 최고 경영자. assume 가정하다.
excessively 과도하게.

B. 구문
given China’s slowdown=if it is given China’s slowdown[중국의 경기 둔화를 고려해 보면]