Korea’s Government reform in public policy and management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the historical path and the future direction of the government reform initiative in Korea regarding the public policy and management reform. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of National Agenda published by the Presidential Transition Committees of each president for the past 20 years. Findings Public policy reform has been rather slow or even has gone backwards for some periods of time in Korea. The market intervention by the government needs to be reduced whereas its role in the social welfare or people’s quality of life should be expanded. President needs to create a reform-driving agency to design a new paradigm of government role. Originality/value There has been no research that has investigated Korea’s Government reform with the framework of public management and public policy reform.