The relationship of social policies and economic development: South Korean case

The subject of this thesis is the economic and social policies of South Korea during the development period. The aim of the thesis is to reveal the mutual relations of these policies with economic development and with each other, and to analyze the relations that occur according to the stages of development. The paper examines industrial relations, and social policy areas of social security, education, health and redistribution in general and in particular, the South Korean case, as well as the relationship of these policy areas with economic development. The research reveals the conclusions that industrial relations are determined by the country's leadership based on development policies and used as an input in line with economic goals. Meanwhile the social goals are neglected and postponed. Even though the country shows an economical success story its industrial relations structure shows a negative picture for the workers during the development period. Moreover this type of industrial relations affected the provisions of social policies in broad sense also negatively. As a result the country did not have effective social policies in terms of social security, health and equal distribution in compliance with its economic success during its development period. Keywords: Social policies, industrial relations, economic development, import substitution, export-led development, South Korea