Park made the industrialization of his impoverished country the prevailing passion of his 18 years in power. Park was ruler of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination by his own intelligence chief in 1979. Those 13 years could have been the transformative golden era of the Philippines, as the “Park Years” were for Korea. Now, our population has exceeded that of Thailand by some 30percent: Thailand – 68.7 million, Philippines – 102,250,133 (2016). With its thriving economy, India, a nuclear- weapon state, has grown further in international importance.

Source: Manila Times January 13, 2017 15:43 UTC