Social Policy on Reducing the Inequality in South Korea in the Early 21st Century

The paper deals with social policy on reducing the economic inequality in the modern Republic of Korea. The purpose of the work is to identify key areas of social policy of the state. To this aim, the author describes the causes and level of inequality, analyzes the content and results of the social policy of the state since 1997, and also considers the further plans of the government for the development of social policy. The study is based on the analysis of statistical materials and official documents of the government, as well as news articles and reports, official government web resources. The results of the study show that several important social institutions were created as a part of the development of the social security system - the Employment Insurance System, National Basic Livelihood Security System, the National Pension System, and the National Health Insurance System. The main directions of the development of social policy for the current government are: further strengthening and development of social security and welfare institutions, promotion of the social integration, increasing the availability of social services, creation of the safe and reliable jobs, ensuring basic livelihoods and increasing incomes of the population, reducing economic inequalities between men and women, elimination of poverty, provision of child care, solution to the housing problem, establishing equality in health care and education, achieving more balanced development of the regions, providing support for small business and private entrepreneurship, investment in the human capital development, conducting training programs, providing care for people with disabilities, raising pensions and social benefits, development of tax policy. Keywords: social policy, economic inequality, income inequality.