PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after a fruitful visit to South Korea expressed wonder over how the latter has managed to overtake Malaysia in economic growth and reduce its poverty gap. South Korea was behind Malaysia in the 1960s.

Now, the PM hopes the new economic policy, Shared Prosperity Vision (SPV), can help overcome our comparative weaknesses of slow growth and increasing income disparity. He also expressed his worries that the growing disparity between the rich and poor in Malaysia is race-based.