Korea Ranks First in Urbanization Kor...

A report showed that South Korea is one of the fastest growing urbanized countries, with 80.8 percent of the population living in cites. Even though other countries have around the same percent of population living in cities, they came about at a much slower rate than South Korea’s. An official from the Statistical Office reported, "Rapid urbanization of Korea is aggravating the economic polarization in the country and deterring balanced economic growth among provinces". These other Provinces are also experiencing rapid growth. Such as Hong Kong whose percentage of urban population was 100 percent, Singapore with 100 percent, Israel with 91.7 percent, and Kuwait with 96.4 percent. Korean officials say that a reduction in Korean fertility, an increase from rural-to-urban migration and then developing the rural areas will help the spread of urbanization. The consequence however, would mean that there would be an even smaller amount of people living in the rural areas, and the gap between urban and rural wealth would continue to increase.
Korean experts warn that the cost of rapid urbanization may be too large too fast. They believe money might be the greatest concern with urbanization. The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) said that in 2002 it’s research showed that 300,000 rural migrants moving to the city would increase the social costs of the urban area by 222.4 billion won. In this case social costs being those created or sharpened by an increased urban population. Such as traffic accidents, crime, and pollution.
I like this article because it gives some examples for solutions to the urbanization problems, where all others have just pointed fingers. Although I don’t like the idea of developing rural land, something must be done. I think if the fertility rate was decreased, it could decrease the numbers. I also think that by knowing that the financial costs of urbanization are going to be high, that Korea realizes plans must be made now for the future populations. This article portrays that urbanization affects many people in many different ways, from those living in the city to others who are minding their own business on the farm.

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