ABSTRACT
The concept of a social market economy that is oriented toward a free market economy while at the same time toward a social Europe has become a central topic of the integration process of the European Union. The social market economy is an important framework that leads not only to a paradigm shift in the European Union’s social policy but also to consensus at legal, normative and institutional levels that can promote social protection and welfare within Europe. Over the past 70 years, the social market economy model has been able to provide a high level of prosperity, growth and social cohesion in Europe and in many other countries. The social market economy can become an excellent alternative for South Korea and North Korea in the course of preparing for the reunification of two regimes that maintain mutually different economic systems.
