Of those non-African nations you mentioned, it is absolutely astounding that South Korea not only escaped the abject poverty but has joined the top 10 or 15 in

Of those non-African nations you mentioned, it is absolutely astounding that South Korea not only escaped the abject poverty but has joined the top 10 or 15 in a lot of metrics used to measure a nation. In 64 years. After the end of the Korean War 1950 - 53, South Korea was the absolute last on the planet in terms of GDP. Poorer than most of the poorer nations. And remember the trauma of having gone through a conventional warfare that went up and down the peninsula about 4 time. Not some guerrilla warfare where a neighborhood here and there goes up in smoke but a good old WW1 style warfare of massive artillery barrages. And before the Korean War, Korea was largely a place stuck in the 19th century, with no modern education or institutions to speak of. In 64 years, they educated the population, built up basic economy, and than kept on advancing.