Government Roles in Policy Networks against COVID-19: Comparing Two Cases in S. Korea

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to discuss what structural type of policy network, that is, inter-organi-zational relations, is effective for overcoming health crisis such as coronavirus outbreak and a pandemic. Assum-ing that Korea has been relatively successful in protecting the spread of infection, we attempt to select two main Korean cases and compare the structural characteristics, such as centrality of policy networks for those cases. Method: It defines the scope of the network to major decision-making agencies, resource mobiliza-tion agencies, and other supporting agencies that officially participate in achieving the policy goals, and analyzes the urgency and importance of the policy goals, the public-good nature of policy, leading forces and authority, participants and their activities, etc. with qualitative data released by various experts and organizations including the government. Results: In the corona response system, the policy goal is very urgent and important, so the government is in charge of it, and the network has been highly concentrated around disease control and prevention institutions that have specialized expertise while destroying the ranks. In the treatment and vaccine development support system, reduced concentration characterizes public-private partnerships, where the private sector wants to ac-tively participate due to the enormous opportunity to generate profits, while the private sector wants active leadership from the government due to the high risk of market failure. Conclusion: Korea s successful prevention of corona damage came from the role of the government, which effectively utilizes IT technology and medical resources and promotes public trust, leading to citizen participation. However, the symbolism of “the big government is back” is implied behind it. Now, at the time when the “big government” is about to return, it will not only expand the size and budget of the government as in the past, but will expand its character as a surveillance state and a health crisis state.