In less than four decades, Korea has become the 12th-largest trading nation in the world and is poised to join the ranks of the industrially advanced nations. This work attempts to draw useful conclusions in economic terms for other Third World countries from the "Korean miracle" by examining its origins. It also analyzes the prospects for Korea's economy in the 1990s and identifies new policies and strategies in the area of international cooperation which are demanded by Korea's changing role in the world economy.