ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the objectives of Korea's program of privatization and the role of public enterprises in the Korean economy. It also explores a brief history of public enterprises in Korea. During the 1980s, with the trends toward internationalization and liberalization, the Korean government committed itself to realigning Korea's social and economic systems according to free-market principles in order to strengthen the economy. Privatized firms provide employee incentive systems, ultimately saving on production costs, and thus improving their own financial structure. The chapter then focuses on the selling off and transferring of public assets to the private sector. It also addresses how policy evaluation has come to play such a central role in the management of the many different Korean public enterprises. To provide more detail on how the initiatives explored to privatize the government enterprises (GEs) and the government-invested enterprises (GIEs) are proceeding, the chapter provides three cases as examples.
