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The Georgist Registry Global Report: Asia
HENRY GEORGE ASSOCIATION OF KOREA
Dr. Poong Lee, President
#601 Koryo Bldg.
6 Yekwab-Dong, Choong-Gu
Seoul 100-290, Republic of Korea
Phone: 2-269-4900 Fax: 2-271-3704
This report was submitted by Dr. Yoon-Sang Kim, Professor of Public Administration, Kyungpook National University, Korea.
More than 90% of Koreans are potential Georgists since they agree that land should not be the means of wealth accumulation. Korea has suffered explosive land speculations three times since the late 1960's; so Koreans know how harmful land speculation is for a healthy society.
Yet Georgism is not widely known, and Koreans are reluctant to consider any proposal that might be misunderstood as being Socialistic, since Socialists have been harshly punished in the past. Nonetheless, there is a growing Georgist movement in Korea, largely due to Rev. Archer Torrey, an Anglican priest who introduced George to Korea before 1960. He has the strong belief that land is at the heart of Christianity. Many Georgists in Korea have been influenced by him directly or indirectly.
The Henry George Association of Korea (HGAK) was established in 1984. It holds frequent seminars and annual Land School meetings which last for three days. The fourth Land School was held in Seoul in January, 1995, and the fifth in Taebaek, a small town where Rev. Torrey runs the Jesus Abbey, in 1996. Around 150 people participate.
Dr. Yoon-Sang Kim, a Professor in the Department of Public Administration, Kyungpook National University (who received his PH.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania) lectured at both the 1995 and 1996 Land Schools.. Dr. Kim translated the abridged edition of Progress and Poverty in 1989 and has just recently translated the full text which will be published soon. He reports that, Korean scholars have not focused on George, although he has been cited in papers on land speculation and windfalls. But interest in George is now increasing.
Several Masters theses have been written on Georgist themes and nearly a dozen professors and researchers meet monthly to read and discuss Progress and Poverty and plan to write papers for publication relating to George's concepts.
http://www.earthrights.net/docs/gr_asia.html