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em>A group of journalists and officials from the 10 member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were in South Korea from Nov. 21 until 27, 2010. The program, organized by the Foreign Ministry and Trade of the Government of the Republic of Korea, involved a number of visits to chief centers of attraction and strategic, high-tech production centers that South Korea has. The Jakarta Post’s Imanuddin Razak was among the participants of the week-long program.

The idea is universal — how to sell one country’s best natural resources and products to foreigners so as to draw more money into the country to help propel its economy.

And universally speaking, one nation must not solely rely on its domestic market, but also expand the market to the outside world in order to prosper and pursue growth.

But in real life, there is always a gap between theory and implementation that frequently makes it nearly impossible to reach the ideal target.

However, the common perception of imperfection is not valid, at least in South Korea (and perhaps in several other countries). The southern country in the Korean Peninsula has managed, although not completely, to reduce the gap to the minimum or even annihilate it and reach perfection.

Take South Korea’s tourism as an example. The formula to promote and develop its tourism sector is the same as others, including Indonesia’s.

You can name a few tourism promotion ideas — from promoting key unique places such as Gyeongbok Palace or Changdeokgung Palace, both in Seoul; the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province; the National Museum of Korea and the National Folk Museum of Korea, both in Seoul; the Bukchon Hanok Village, an area also in Seoul popular for its preserved traditional houses; or other places in the country that have been designated as World Cultural Heritages (South Korea is home to seven of them); to designating 2010-2012 as Visit Korea Years or to organizing events that will invite a large number of non-Koreans to visit the country.

The result is the continuous increase of foreign tourist arrivals from year to year, with the Korea Tourism Organization targeting 10 million tourist arrivals for 2012 and 11 million for 2013.

South Korea’s competitive advantage, however, does not rest on its tourism sector only. The top two South Korean conglomerates — Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors Group — are among the very few Asian representatives included in the Top 100 list of Best Global Brands 2010 beside several Japanese companies.

But their achievement to be among the top global companies did not come overnight as both had started their businesses from small units in the mid 20th century (in the 1950s) and despite the difficult periods of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997/1998 and the partial economic crisis of 2008, the two fought to reach excellence through continuous improvement and commitment to change and innovation.

Another example of South Korea’s excellence in science and technology is the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and its High-flux Advanced Neuron Application Reactor (HANARO), from which all research activities on neutron science and its applications — such as nuclear in-pile tests, production of key radioisotopes, neutron transmutation doping, radiography, environmental science, health science and bio-engineering — have originated.

As a result, the KAERI, through its current 20 nuclear reactors, contributes 40 percent of electricity generation in South Korea. And globally, South Korea has been exporting its nuclear technology to other countries and aiming to be among the top-three largest reactor suppliers in the world.

Besides science and technology, South Korea is also aiming high in the global entertainment business sector. And this ambition is not merely a dream as a number of entertainment performing groups have been receiving global recognition for their extraordinary performances.

Non-verbal performances like Nanta and Jump (despite only 12 years and five years old, respectively) are already widely known throughout the world, both having frequently been invited to perform in many top places
outside Korea.

To conclude, all those natural resources and products of South Korea have been developed not only for local people’s consumption, as they have grown in scale and volume along with their orientation toward exports.

And Indonesia, which is rich in natural resources and culture, is supposed to be able to make good use of the “Korean Way” to develop and progress. The question is how serious are we, Indonesians, in the pursuit of prosperity and excellence?