6 Prospects for the Future Prospects for the Future Along with social discussions regarding vulnerabilities of the Korean welfare state exposed by the global pandemic, the 2022 presidential election is expected to provide opportunities to discuss a variety of reform proposals for social policies in Korea. Nevertheless, it is still unknown whether these various alternatives can lead to effective social policy reform. To enumerate the reasons, first, in consideration of the characteristics of the Korean welfare state — in which liberal and conservative characteristics are mixed — micro adjustment to existing systems is likely to be a dominant response rather than innovative changes in the social security system. In a situation where fiscal conservative standpoints are substantially settled, fiscal expansion for social policies is expected to be limited. Moreover, since social policy decisions tend to be led by the government in a top-down, rather than bottom-up, manner, innovative changes in the social security system seem highly unlikely. Second, the entities with potential to lead progressive alternatives to the Korean welfare state are very weak. Whereas western welfare states have been developed based on high union density, Korea ’ s union density stood at 12.5% in 2019. Even the union density of irregular workers with strong desires for social policies is a mere 3%. Trade unions in Korea are enterprise­level unions organized mainly by regular employees of large conglomerates, and as a result, unions tend to represent the interests of regular employees more than those of irregular workers. Third, until now, issues related to social policies have not been primary agenda goals of trade unions. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU), currently the largest national center in Korea, was established in 1995, proposing social security reform as its primary task under its core doctrine of struggle for social reform. In the process of overcoming the 1997 Asian foreign exchange crisis, KCTU leadership at that time agreed on the government ’ s social security reform and labor market restructuring “ big deal. ” The government, however, unilaterally pushed ahead only with labor market restructuring. Since then, the umbrella organization has shifted its direction toward hard-line struggle against the government rather than social consent, which has been maintained to this day. The KCTU is still highly skeptical about social policy reform agendas items or participating in the presidential Economic, Social, and Labor Commission(ESLC) discussions, a table for social consent. It tends to be interested in and focused on issues such as workplaces wages and working environment improvement. It is currently refusing to participate in the ESLC, the body for social dialogue. Although a Social Safety Net Improvement Committee has been established under the tripartite body in which social security reform measures are discussed through tripartite consent, the KCTU is also not a participant in this body. Recent Issues Facing Social Security in South Korea