| Summary: | This paper highlights the important roles of bureaucrats in developing and implementing Korean welfare reforms, which previous studies have overlooked or under-evaluated. It shows that developmental ideas and policy preferences established during the developmental phase of the country’s post-war history have continued to play a critical role in determining the nature and extent of Korean welfare reforms. Examples of such developmental ideas and preferences include those favouring work-incentive contributions and self-support discipline, both of which economic bureaucrats have consistently advocated even after the Korean developmental state was transformed into more liberalised governance. Examining two welfare innovations in Korea, this study concludes that embedded values do not easily perish and dominant values within a bureaucracy can filter, shape and restrict policy demands from civil society. In particular, the findings indicate that following the political decisions of the executive, Korean bureaucrats have enjoyed considerable autonomy in the phase of making up enforcement ordinances and regulations with the rationale for growth strategy in the post-developmental era.
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