A reflection on small government

Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of small government in Korea by way of reviewing a recent article on the subject published in Spring, 1492 in the Korean Public Administnation Redew. The article is by four Korean political scientists led by Dong-Suh Bark. The Korea's Fifth Republic of the 80s under Chun Doo-Whan first broached small government. Largely, to redeem his couptarnished Fifth Republic, Chun streamlined the bureaucracy. This resulted in personnel reduction, consolidation, and the adoption of a zero-base budget. The Sixth Republic under Roh Tae-Woo formed a group to study governmental reform. Nothing much came of it, however, as Roh gave way to pressures resisting change. Corning into power in 1993, Kim Young-Sam, the reform-minded president of the Seventh Republic has put forth small government as a part of his overall reform agenda.