The trend of globalization in 20th century and Asian financial crisis shocked or, from some scholars¡¦ viewpoint, even ended the East Asian model of economic development, which challenged the role of state. However, according to the concept of ¡¥monopoly rent¡¦ by David Harvey, culture is based on countries, history, nations, and identities. These elements are all related to state closely. Therefore, in the era of globalization, the role of state will not disappear, but be transformed. The thesis will emphasize the role of Korean government in developing cultural industries and will discuss the national policies since 1998 after Korea recovered from its imminent bankruptcy. Korea was nearly bankrupted in the Asian financial crisis in 1997. In 1998, Korean government adopted cultural industry as a national strategic industry. It introduced a bundle of plans, policies, laws, subsidies, and established related official departments to benefit enterprises and people and promote other industries. The strategies re-established national economy successfully; moreover, the ¡§Korean Wave¡¨ was formed and became a trend in Asia. Furthermore, the thesis starts from reviewing Korean history, including Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism from China, colonial culture from Japan, and Western culture from American armies. From the context of penetrating foreign culture influence, the thesis points out the components of Korean cultures, and uncovers Koreans¡¦ national and cultural identities, formation of nationalism, and global strategies of cultural industries.

Abstract After devastating destruction of two World Wars, how to re-develop economy was the most important issue in the world between 1950¡¦s and 1970¡¦s. As a result, theories of national development arose in the same time. ¡§The state-centric approach¡¨ arose in 1980¡¦s to explore the relationship between market function and the state after viewing the outstanding economic performance of East Asian countries. Researchers of ¡§the state-centric approach¡¨ claimed that the state autonomy and capacity are key elements to country¡¦s development. After World War II, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea were common in: 1. Authoritarian states with high autonomy and capacity; 2. Received American aid to undertake political, economic reform and import substitute policy; 3. Land reform resulted in fair distribution. The economic development of Taiwan in the past fifty years was rapid, constant, steady, and fair distribution, which is one of the successful models of East Asian. The state was the key factor of Taiwan¡¦s economic success. The establishment of Export Processing Zone was a proof of how the state induced development. The growth of Export Processing Zone equals to the development in Taiwan. This research is focused on the Export Processing Zone, discussing how the autonomy and capacity of state affected the development in Taiwan as well as in Export Processing Zone. The author also tried to find out what and how the state should do n the next step to create another new phase of development for Taiwan.