Trend K-shaped growth: output and income increasingly polarise between large IT firms and the rest

Summary

The strategy diagnoses that income and asset polarisation in Korea is deepening into what it calls K-shaped growth. Since the 1990s, opening and digitalisation have concentrated growth in large firms and the IT sector where Korea has comparative advantage. Non-IT industries face Chinese technological catch-up, and small firms have stagnated because they lack investment and workers. Unfair dealing between large and small firms and a dual labour market are said to amplify income polarisation. The government adds that regional gaps are widening, making polarisation a structural challenge alongside falling potential growth.