Park Chung Hee's rule in South Korea lasted for nearly two decades, from May 1961 to October 1979. During this period he put Korea firmly on the route to cohesive-capitalist development, mainly by re-creating an efficacious but brutal state that intervened extensively in the economy. South Korea industrialized rapidly during this period, with growth in mining and manufacturing averaging nearly 15 percent per annum and the overall economic growth averaging some 9 percent per annum. The political economy that produced this rapid transformation has been well studied, even overstudied. The following account repeats some well-known information to facilitate a comparison of South Korea with other cases. My emphasis on the role of the state in promoting rapid economic growth will not come as a surprise to those familiar with the subject. However, my account also differs from some standard accounts, including statist accounts. I focus not only on industrial policy and export promotion, but also on the state's role in generating high rates of investment and in creating a cheap and disciplined labor force. Moreover, it is an analysis that goes deeper into the causal chain, to uncover why the state did what it did. Thus, I find that continuity with colonial institutions helps to explain state efficacy as well as state brutality, that earlier experience with industrialization helps to explain subsequent success, and that reestablishment of close relations with Japan looms large in understanding how the South Korean state secured capital and technology for its miracle.