Educational Diffusion and Uneven Regional Development

-The Case of South Korea-

South Korea has become one of the richest nations of the world after the fast industrialization and modernization led by the central government since 1960s. During this developmental process of South Korea, elites trained by highly competitive education systems in the Seoul Metropolitan Area contributed to this remarkable economic growth under the strong national plans based on growth-pole development. Nevertheless, this can be imperfect because of the ramifications resulting from the uneven resource distribution and regional discrimination that cause population congestion in Seoul and unequal national development in the local provinces. In particular, educational institutes in the local provinces have been struggling to access to opportunities of better jobs and educational resources such as study abroad programs and globalized cultural lifestyle. The trend is well indicated in the passing rate of the national judicial exam. The research reviews why Korean people prefer to move to Seoul. Thus, this paper addresses uneven resource distribution in local provinces of South Korea, in order to suggest solutions for balanced regional and national development in the future.