Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114422

Chang-yup Kim, MD, PhD, MPH, School of Public health, Seoul National University, 28 Yongun-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul, 110-799, South Korea, 82-2-740-8876, cykim@snu.ac.kr

There has been considerable debate on the welfare policies of the Kim Dae-jung government, South Korea, since the economic crisis of late 1990s, but it is unquestionable that its health and health care policies have faithfully followed the doctrine of neoliberalism. Public health measures and the performance of the public sector weakened to a minimal role, and the private health sector has further strengthened its dominance. Contraction of health budget and deregulation of the occupational safety measures reveals negative attitude of the government towards social protection. In addition, there had been no evidence of strengthening safety net, expansion of social security entitlement or benefit, and associated legislative reform in health field, which supposed to be elements of prowelfare policies. As a result, health and health care policies of this period are characterized by an overwhelming neoliberal trend rather than prowelfaristic one. Neoliberalism has been an “orthodox” ideology dominating Korean society for more than a decade. The recent Korean economic crisis, often regarded as a consequence of its “nonglobalized” economy, has allowed neoliberalism to reach every area of society. However, Korean labor and civil movements have not completely succumbed to this wave, claiming that privatization of health sectors should not be a new policy. Workers' health, threatened by the government's neoliberal policies, also has been regarded as a main struggle issue of the national trade unions and associated activist groups, and their countermeasures have been partly successful in preventing further regression of safety and health protection.

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss characteristics of economic crisis and neoliberal approach to cope with it
• Develop conceptual frame to connect the local health policies to global economic change

Keywords: Health Reform, Politics

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.