Koreas development in the last four decades of the 20th century was astonishing. The growth rate of GDP per capita was even the highest in the world during the period 1965 to 1990. After the World War II, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world, however, it gradually transformed into an advanced economy. In the late 1990s. Korea was heavily affected by the Asian Financial crisis. The crisis revealed longstanding weakness in Koreas development model. After this crisis, Korea managed to implement broad structural reforms. The country started to build a knowledge economy and we can claim that it has been successful. Nowadays, we often hear that a crisis represents an opportunity. Korea is an example of a country that was truly able to utilize such an opportunity. Therefore, the Korean transition to the knowledge economy that was initiated after the Financial crisis 1997- 1998 could be an inspiration for Central European countries.