More than half a century has passed since Japan and Korea established their National Civil service Acts. Problems still exist in the public services such as low world competitiveness in government a lack of creativity and effective management,a lack of trust and reliability and sectionalism among ministries and agencies. Seniority-based personnel practices and rigid systems for employment still prevail without many improvements in human resource management. Recently, both the Japanese and Korean governments have paid more attention to issue such as trust, democracy,transparency, and responsiveness in addition to traditional values such as legality, efficiency, neutrality,and stability.In order to fulfill new goals,both governments need to reform their public services towards more diversity, openness,and flexibility. Japan and Korea have differences in various regards, but many similarities also exist in their cultures and administrative systems. Therefore, a study of public service reform toward common reform measures in the tow neighboring countries Would be meaningful for improving the personnel systems of both countries in the future.

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