ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the social policies of the welfare state in Korea in the context of social challenges. Korean society has been faced with a seismic shift in demographic structure and a significant labour market change. The emerging structure of the labour market in Korea can be summarized well by the notion of the dual labour market. Together with the changing demographic structure, labour demand from manufacturing industries in the labour market has led to greater demand for migrant workers. The developmental welfare state is a manifestation of the developmental state in the social dimension. The welfare state in Korea has evolved from a minimal number of social policy programmes to a system with a wide range of comprehensive programmes. The governance of the welfare state has gone through significant changes. Democratic governance is the case not only at the level of programme implementation, but also at the level of policy making.
