The World On arirang

The past, present & future of KDI, Korea’s leading think tank for the economic & social system

Due to the COVID-19 crisis that has swept across the whole world since the end of 2019, the global economy has faced a significant paradigm shift.

Considering the statistics on the economic growth rate, Korea's successful response to the COVID-19 crisis stands out in comparison to other advanced countries. And Korea’s strategy against the spread of the coronavirus has been in the spotlight. Escaping from a country that has built social systems based on the cases of advanced countries, now is time for Korea to take a leading role as a first mover.

The year 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of KDI, or Korea Development Institute, which has been a leading national think tank for the past five decades. After the war, Korea faced the worst economic crisis and the country needed a policy research institute which can build a fundamental institutional framwork for economic and social systems. KDI has made a great contribution to the agenda setting process by promoting scientific and practical researches in various fields, including macroeconomics, finance, social security, labor, industry, trade, infrastructure for national land, market innovation and the North Korean economy. Moreover, it has suggested policies and practical ways to overcome the crisis whenever Korea faced economic declines. Due to the institutional measures suggested by KDI, Korea has achieved rapid economic growth and provided successful responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

KDI has played an active role for Korea’s remarkable economic growth. We follow the footsteps of Korea’s economic growth for the past 50 years and explore the future vision for the next 50 years. KDI aims to popularize Korea’s strategies and share their insights with the world, in order to become a role model for global research institutes. What would be their own strategy against the continuing crisis facing the rapidly changing global society?