Limitations of the Social Welfare Reform during the Progressive Governments of South Korea:

This study assees the social welfare reform under the progr sive govemments of South Korea (hereafter Korea) led by President Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) and President Roh Moo-hyun(2003-2008), and considers its theoretical implications. The institutional efforts of both the govemments to expand the Korean a l welfare system d id not produα the anti pated results Therefore, although the Korean economy has grown rapidly along with a considerable increase in the national incorne percapita in comparison with that in the past, the country’ssocial welfa re sys tem still remains s ignificant ly backward in a Jl respects, relative to that of all the other OECD countries with similar economic power, let alone the advanced welfare states in Westem Europe I is study maintains that the key reaSQn for the inertia or status quo despite the significant efforts of both the govemments to expand sociaJ welfare is explained in the Korean growth-first doctrine, which inherently considers th. t distribution hinders growth and lh.t social policy is secondary lo economic policy, thus limihng the choices of the country’s decision makers, as has been the case all along sincc Ù1C devel pmenta l period. Given that the growth-fi rst doctrine inherentIy rega rded the relationship between growth and welfare as mutua.lly exclusive, it was perhaps certain that the inAuence of the doctri ne u pon the soci welfare policy of bolh the progressive gove.mments would not be 50 positive. This suggests that path dependence is active in the case of lhe Korean social welfare policy, thus sllbstantiating the v메 idity of path-dependence theory