An Assessment of Seoul Metropolitan Government Reform Strategies

From 1998 to 2001 the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has implemented a series of reforms under the leadership of Mayor Goh Kun. This paper is to review the contents and background of SMG reform measures and the basic strategies. This paper serves as a useful source of information for central and local governments that are pursuing reform or academics interested in studying administrative reform. The reforms of the SMG under Goh Kun as a whole are significant in many ways with regard to the reform of local governments in Korea. The SMG reforms have been innovative and groundbreaking compared to those of other entities. Some of the reform measures have encouraged many local governments and even the central government to take action, as exemplified in the OPEN system which has now proliferated across the country. The reform programs of the SMG have also helped improve the image of the Korean administration toward the outside. The high recognition it received from Transparency International and the United Nations in defeating corruption has done a great deal to raise international confidence in Korea. It is encouraging that the OPEN system has been replicated in so many other countries around the world. Korea has always adopted reform programs from outside sources but it is now taking the lead.