Abstract
Following the neoliberalism of the 1980s, the matter of social security tended to be discussed from the viewpoint of retrenchment. In Japan, a neoliberal policy to reduce social expenditure was enacted. On the other hand, after the economic crisis of 1997 the social security system expanded rapidly in Korea. However, Korea is a late-coming welfare state. Therefore Korea had to restructure itself at the same time in order to build a welfare state. Three governments have pursued restructuring of the welfare state while also forming the welfare state. And this was undertaken under double pressure: to support new social risks with correspondence to the old social risks. In addition to the liberal governments aiming at welfare expansion, (under Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-Hyun), the conservative government of Lee Myung-Bak also recognized the need for welfare expansion. As a result, social expenditure increased under the Lee Myung-Bak regime. In Korea, one-sided policy promotion according to the ideology of the government has become impossible.
