Not to forestall further responses - espeically because this doesn't deal with the advancement of Japan and South Korea - but there's a good answer in our Science and Health FAQ by /u/restricteddata: to this question: Did the Catholic Church hold back scientific and technological progress in the Middle Ages?

I've answered this question before here. Well, that links to two links to previous answers anyway.

For what it's worth, advanced technological development in South Korea is largely a phenomenon that has occurred since the Korean War in the 1950s. Before and during that conflict, Korea was largely dirt-poor and intensely agrarian.