In the 1980s, Rostow visited South Korea, whose economy had greatly industrialized under the rule of General Park. During his visit, Rostow praised South Korea as the best example of the theories he set out in "The Stages of Economic Growth", arguing that General Park's policies had indeed pushed South Korea into an "industrial take-off". In 1998, Rostow told the South Korean economist Park Taey-Gyun that the experience of South Korea proved the correctness of "The Stages of Economic Growth" and expressed the wish that more Third World leaders had been like General Park; though the economist Park noted that General Park's policy of Five Year Plans did not reflect Rostow's ideas.