This report is designed to provide useful information on the social economy in South Korea and the ecosystem surrounding it, including its infrastructure and other factors, for readers in and outside Korea. To that end, it draws upon the model of ecosystems for social enterprises developed by the Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University (USA). Chapter 1 defines the concept and scope of the social economy, traces the history of institutional evolution supporting its growth, and presents its current status and its relationship to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chapter 2 describes the infrastructure of financial, human, knowledge, and social capital in South Korea that supports the growth of the social economy. Chapter 3 describes policy and institutions, market conditions and other external factors that influence the Korean social economy.
This report is available in English and in Korean.

As the CASE model was developed for American social enterprises, its application to their Korean counterparts was not straightforward. Some modifications were necessary to take into consideration the context of the social economy in Korea.

Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency (KoSEA) was established in December 2010 with the mission of developing flourishing ecosystems for the social economy in the Republic of Korea under Article 20 of the Social Enterprise Promotion Act. Its roles and responsibilities pertain to a wide scope of activities related to promoting Social Economy Enterprises (SEEs). KoSEA also supports the self-sufficiency and sustainability of cooperatives by providing training, marketing support, and other services necessary to strengthen their management capacity.