Abstract
Looking back on author's research results, this study surveys research directions in Japan for the Long-term Care Insurance System in South Korea before and after its enforcement, and examines research subjects for which a further research would be required in the future. Before the system was enforced on July 2008, the literature had primarily focused on the background of its foundation and introduction of its mechanism and outline. After the framework of the system had been developed to some extent, comparative studies between Japanese and Korean systems were actively made. Since the system was enforced, studies on the analysis of outcomes of its enforcement and on the proposal for improving the quality of nursing services have been conducted mainly. As outcomes of enforcement of the system, the construction of a framework which offers stable nursing services, a large increase in nursing service recipients, reduction in the burden on families of long-term care, and job creation can be listed. However, there are still many issues to be resolved, such as limited eligibility for receiving the services, inadequate payments, low wages, excessive competition among care support providers and false claims for nursing care fees, insufficient certification of needed long-term care for dementia elderly persons, regional differentials in the supply of the service, low levels of specialty of care workers with a bad working environment, low quality of the services, and the absence of care management. Further research is expected to resolve these problems.
