Comment by jltsiren
8 hours ago
It's more that South Korea and Japan are the last developed countries, where it's still economically viable to build cargo ships. Several European countries have robust shipbuilding industry, but they focus on higher-value ships such as cruise ships.
How do they achieve it? The cost of living and social services can’t be that much different from at least mid-tier EU members.
The Korean War played a major part, according to "Why Only Three Countries Bother Building Ships Anymore". https://youtu.be/0Gk61ginOqo
By becoming wealthy later than European countries.
Shipyards are long-term investments. It makes sense to build them when you have the expertise and labor costs are in your favor. But once you have built them, they are a sunk cost. You can remain competitive against countries with cheaper labor for decades.
Globalization and the growth of international trade also helped. China built new shipyards, but the demand for new ships also grew, keeping Korean and Japanese shipyards in business. Meanwhile, the wage gap is gradually getting narrower.
Not an expert but I think it has a lot to do with what gets prioritized by the government and other groups. Tax breaks and other support aren't infinite and where they (any given government) chooses to use them makes a big impact.