korea has become an industrial powerhouse in shipbuilding, home appliances, information technology, steelmaking, and to a lesser extent, automobiles. in many ways, korea owes what it is to its costly reserach and development programs.

owe a to b : a는 b의 덕분이다. 에서
what it is를 해석을 한국이 존재하고 있는것은
이렇게 해석하면 될까요??