In the mid- to late-1970s (far before Korea entered the fray), Taiwan was the global epicenter of illegal clone manufacturing. Markets around the world - but especially Hong Kong - had a steady supply of cheap Taiwan-made Apple and (later) IBM clones.
The ironic part of the story is that cloning provided Taiwan with manufacturing expertise, and in short order, they were awarded legal contracts to manufacture legal computers from US companies for export to Europe and America. The Taiwanese government sent Taiwanese engineers to the US for training, and they returned to kickstart companies such as Acer, which originally started out manufacturing OEM clones for Canon and Siemens, but later started releasing computers under its own brand.
The conditions for incubating talent in Taiwan arose from piracy and a demand for cheap computers and parts - not sure if there's any modern equivalent to start the next wave of talent in Europe and North America.