Introduction

The closing years of the last millennium saw a number of significant developments in South Korea (henceforth Korea). The country joined the OECD group of nations in 1996, was engulfed in a serious financial crisis in 1997, followed by a large bail-out loan from the IMF and for the first time elected a candidate from the opposition party—Kim Dae-Jung—as president who took office in 1998. These developments formed the context in which a symposium (International Symposium on Sharing Productive Welfare Experience) was held in Seoul, in September 2001. This volume brings together the papers presented at the symposium and two others especially prepared for this volume.