This study aims to grasp the characteristics of the Korean economy as described in foreign textbooks. The analysis of 306 textbooks from forty different countries was used in this study. The textbooks were mainly history, geography, and social studies textbooks. The Korean economy as presented in the textbooks is rather positive but not stable. There is the common image that Korea is a model country that has successfully achieved economic growth despite many unfavorable conditions and has nearly approached developed countries. However, Korea is still seen as a developing country with strong governmental support of its economic growth, low wages, technical aid from Japan and the United States, an economic structure focusing on a small number of conglomerates, and a non-democratic society. There is no evidence presented in the textbooks that Korea has completely emerged from the 1997 economic crisis. In general, the image of Korea is that it achieved tremendous economic growth, close to 'a miracle', but remains 'a country to be watched'.
