Yeah, they weren't chosen randomly. Also, China and South Korea seem to be taking very different paths. While there are always similarities between any two country's governments, there are a lot of differences there. South Korea has competitive elections, where incumbents are not uncommonly voted out of office, and China does not. South Korea is fundamentally a market economy (with lots of government involvement), and China is much closer to a command economy (with lots of market elements). Neither one is at an extreme on the market-vs-command spectrum, but they are in very different parts of that spectrum.