Can South Korea’s new president get his country back on track?

UNTIL RECENTLY South Korea seemed to be moving inexorably up the global food chain. Gone are the days of a “shrimp among whales”, as a traditional proverb described the nation’s position beside larger neighbours. Today’s South Korea is relatively free, relatively rich and relatively large, part of a small club of democratic nations with a GDP per person over $30,000 and a population over 50m (see chart). As Lee Jae-myung, the newly elected president of South Korea, quipped in an interview with The Economist earlier this year, now it is more fitting to compare his country to a dolphin.