CONCLUSION

In a Law and Development context, Korean administrative cases present a good example of how they are related to public governance and economic development. From the above arguments, we can see the following four points.

First, Korean economic development in its early stages (1962-1979) was indebted more to �efficient’ government rather than �transparent’ government. Most of these efficiencies were accomplished by the public agency’s broad discretionary power through �administrative guidance’. In this period, the judi­ciary was reluctant to engage in government’s discretionary power conducted through administrative guidance. After accomplishing basic economic devel­opment, more emphasis was laid upon transparency of government.

Secondly, in each stage of economic development, the Korean government used globalization differently. In the early stage, the Korean government supported enterprises to increase export through administrative guidance. Globalization in this period was somewhat limited. After establishing basic economic development, the Korean government faced liberalization of the global economy in a more positive manner. So strengthening transparency of government procurement through joining WTO GPA took place in this stage.

Thirdly, in establishing a legal system for transparency of government, it was important to actualize the spirit embodied in the Constitution. The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court took a critical role to make the Administrative Procedure Act and Information Disclosure Act work well according to the spirit of the Constitution. In addition, the democratization of Korean society was a basis for this phenomenon.

Fourthly, in order for transparency-related statutes to firmly establish their roots, people’s awareness of the rule of law will have to increase. Many impor­tant decisions are pouring out of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, and these decisions are widely discussed among non-legal profession­als. And Internet access to legal resources is also helping. These phenomena are expected to increase people’s awareness of the rule of law.

The international economic environment has changed a lot in contrast with that of Korea’s early economic development, so the Korean experience cannot be applied universally to other developing countries. However, even in today’s world, the role of the state in economic development should be emphasized, and I think the Korean experience can be an important reference from which developing countries could learn.