South Korea’s social economy has grown rapidly over the past decade, largely through government-led support systems. A key turning point came in 2012, when the United Nations designated the year as the International Year of Cooperatives. In the same year, South Korea enacted the Framework Act on Cooperatives, laying the legal foundation for cooperative development. Since then, cooperatives in Korea have continued to grow steadily.   This article features an interview with Lee Gi-dae, a leading expert in the Korean cooperative sector. Lee currently serves as Deputy Director of the Research Institute affiliated with CoopBiz Cooperative, Chairperson of Dream Sharing Social Cooperative, and General Committee Member of the Policy and Institutional Committee of the Korea Social and Solidarity Economy Association. He is also actively involved in SE-ACT (Solidarity Economy in Action), which has been introduced previously on this blog. For clarity and consistency, he will be refer...