Inside Korea’s Social Impact

  In South Korea, the 9th Nationwide Local Elections will be held on June 3. As the election approaches, the atmosphere is already heating up as citizens prepare to elect local government leaders and council members.   As elections draw near, people vote based on their own beliefs. While each individual has different reasons for choosing a candidate, most voters — especially in local elections — cast their votes with their own communities in mind. (**In Korea, all citizens aged 18 and older are eligible to vote.)   The choice of who receives each vote ultimately shapes the direction of society. Even when candidates aim to solve the same problems, their approaches can differ significantly. In that sense, elections are a critical process that determines the possibilities for social change.   Elections Change More Than We Think   As in any country, elections play a crucial role in Korean society. They determine policy directions, influence the flow ...

  In a previous post, I explored how Korea’s traditional community practice of “gye” has evolved into modern forms of social finance.   👉Related article Korea’s Traditional Community Finance “Gye”: Its Expansion into Social Finance (Part 1)   From Traditional Gye to Social Finance in Korea (Part 2) On the 20th, the 2026 Global Forum on Value-Based Finance was held, where a declaration for promoting a value-based financial cooperative was presented. This reflects a growing effort to create a financial system that operates not only on profit, but on values.   In this post, I will share key discussions from the forum and examine why finance should be guided by social purpose.   Poster of the Global Forum on Value-Based Finance held on the 20th(Source: Social Innovation Entrepreneur Network) Why Do We Need a Value-Based Financial Cooperative?   To some extent, the question of “why” has already been addressed in previous posts. However, it i...

  Korea may be a society where experiences of solidarity and cooperation run especially deep. For generations, people have relied on one another, solved problems together, and met shared needs through collective effort.   I believe this spirit lives on in Korea’s cultural memory. And today, it reappears in what we call the social and solidarity economy.   In this article, I explore how Korea’s long tradition of cooperation has evolved into its modern social and solidarity economy.   Is the Social and Solidarity Economy a Foreign Concept in Korea?   When I first began working as a journalist covering social impact, I had a question: Is the social and solidarity economy — cooperatives, social enterprises, community enterprises, self-reliance enterprises, and social ventures — an imported idea?   In its early development, many explained that the model was inspired by European examples and later adapted to fit the Korean context.   ...