© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI: 10.1163/156913209X12499527665422 Comparative Sociology 9 (2010) 308–327 brill.nl/coso COMPARATIVE SOCIOLOGY Education and Development: Why are Koreans Obsessed with Learning?* Ingyu Oh Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Bristol BS16 1QY, United Kingdom Ingyu.Oh@uwe.ac.uk Abstract he Korean learning pattern during the developmental period is typified by high levels of individual educational achievements despite extreme poverty in society. At the moment, the Korean proportion of private educational spending to GDP is the largest among OECD countries. I argue that the ongoing Korean educa- tional frenzy is a result of a traditional subculture that emphasizes social success through education and individual educational choices, made by parents on behalf of their children based on psychological mechanisms of fear and han (or emo- tional enmity). he benefit of education in terms of economic development and political democracy continues to reinforce parents to be obsessive about children’s education even during the post-developmental stage. Yet, it is now obvious to Korean policymakers and parents alike that educational obsession is hampering both democracy and economic development. Keywords development, Korea, educational investments, learning Modern Korean society presents an epistemological puzzle: its fanatic commitment to public and private education persists across time, whether amidst extreme poverty following emancipation from colonial rule, or the devastation of the Korean War, or the relative affluence of postwar * ) I thank Prof. Hyuk-Rae Kim, Prof. Yoo Soo Hong, Prof. Seok-Choon Lew, Dr. E. J. Kim, Will Brett, and anonymous reviewers of earlier drafts for their constructive and valu- able comments.