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The book Tiikeriportti gives Finns a taste of South Korea

Sitra has long sought to keep abreast of trends in Asia. Tiikeriportti provides interesting perspectives on the Korean Peninsula and plenty of food for thought – can Finland, as a small and agile player, tap new opportunities opened up by the development of Korea?

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Finns have little knowledge of daily life in the Koreas and their millennia-old cultures. Tiikeriportti – Korean vimma voittaa maailma (Tiger Gate – Korea’s Drive to Win the World), written by Teppo Turkki, is one of the first books to give Finns an overview of the societies and cultures of both the dynamic South Korea and the totalitarian North Korea.

Sitra has long sought to keep abreast of trends in Asia. Tiikeriportti provides interesting perspectives on the Korean Peninsula and plenty of food for thought – can Finland, as a small and agile player, tap new opportunities opened up by the development of Korea?

“Understanding Korean development is a good key to interpreting and comprehending trends in Eastern Asia and the future of the region. After all, Eastern Asia will be a financial powerhouse of innovation and growth. Observing Korea and its new trends also sheds light on the future of the Chinese and Japanese – and vice versa,” says the author, Teppo Turkki.

Tiikeriportti gives intriguing insights into Korean daily life, societal development, a culture dominated by a strong state and planning, and the problematic, but inseparable ties between North and South Korea.

The book’s descriptions of the evolution of the South Korean information society, the Hallyu phenomenon in the creative sector, and the financial thinking and politics behind green innovations will be particularly interesting to Finnish readers.

For instance, South Korea has given rise to a socially aware and proactive civic society on the Internet. Networks can truly be said to be powerful there – millions of Koreans are active members of online communities.

“A self-organising civic society of this nature is passionately driven to generate new ideas and innovations. We should think about how we in Finland can inspire such enthusiasm for creating new things,” says Ossi Kuittinen, Sitra’s development director responsible for matters relating to the information society.

Kuittinen believes that the development of South Korea also provides opportunities for Finnish business.

“We must think about whether South Korea could serve as a springboard for Finland in the emerging markets of Eastern Asia, such as in the field of mobile service expertise,” he says.

Further information

Teppo Turkki, teppo@turkki.nu, +358 500 506 810
Ossi Kuittinen, Development Director, Sitra
firstname.lastname@sitra.fi, +358 40 748 4812
Elina Kiiski, Communications Officer, firstname.lastname@sitra.fi, +358 44 540 3367

Publication details

Tiikeriportti – Korean vimma voittaa maailma
Teppo Turkki Sitra publication series (284)
ISBN 978-951-37-5662-8
ISSN 0785-8388 Edita Prima Oy Helsinki: Sitra, 2009