The historical achievement of growth necessarily conferred political leadership upon him. First, the question is what kind of leadership Park had the enabled him to maximize the South Korean government’s policy performance and legitimize his rule.
Second, at the level of performance, the park era was characterized by economic crises as much as by modernization miracles. And Third, explaining Park’s success in holding on to political power in terms of long-term and macro performance misses his struggle to make political and economically important strategic choices.