A study on NPOs/NGOs of Korea and Japan in a comparative perspective.
Eun Ju Choi
Let me explain the outline of my prospective Ph.D. dissertation and today’spresentation briefly. In my dissertation, I have paid attention to the importance ofNPOs/NGOs in social welfare and have tried to compare the activities ofNPOs/NGOs in Korea with those in Japan from a macro and a micro point of view.
In addition, the empirical research based on theory the same framework about longterm care for elderly.
But, in this presentation I focus on the comparison of the activities of NPOs/NGOsin Korea and Japan from a macro and a micro point of view .

1. Backgrounds of the emergence of NPOs/ NGOs
It is said that modern welfare states face crisis in social service delivery. This
paper pays attention to effective social service delivery systems. It focuses on NonProfit Organizations(NPOs) and Non Governmental Organizations(NGOs) as analternative to the conventional system. It is expected they would make up for
shortage of conventional social service delivery system. This paper describes
similarities and differences in activities of NPOs/ NGOs between Korea and Japan.
To consider improving conventional system, it is necessary to understand thebackgrounds of the welfare state crisis and transformation of social service delivery.
First, there is an increase in the aged, second, the worsening of financial burden ofcentral government, third, the decrease of central government

spending in social

welfare service delivery due to Neo Liberalism and decentralization, fourth, thetransformationoffamily structure.

2.The comparison from macro-point of view---Based on The Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project---In modern society, socio-economic roles of NPOs/NGOs should not be ignored.
Nowadays, we experience worldwide increase of the importance of NPOs/NGOs, tosuch an extent that Prof. Lester. M. Salamon calls it "the global associationrevolution". However, conventionally, especially in economics, only public sector andmarket sector were considered an analysis object. This is why we should beinterested in global socio-economic influence of NPOs/NGOs and take a close look at1

it.
A comparative research on NPOs/NGOs led by Johns Hopkins Universityisfamous worldwide. The Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project wecall JHCNP started in 1990. Since then, several surveys have been made several
times so far. At the beginning, 14 countries were focused. But, nowadays, almost 40
countries are surveyed.
(1) Expenditure ratio of NPOs/NGOs to GDP
In 1995, the amount of expenditure of Japanese nonprofit sector was 22trillion yen,equivalent to 4.5% of GDP. The total expense of Japanese government in this fiscal
year was 78trillion yen, compared to other sectors, the current expenditure scale ofJapanese nonprofit sector is not small.
In case of the Korea, National Accounts of the Bank of Korea, we can see the sharefor each sector in GDP. The sector nearest to non-profit sector is producers ofnon-profit services to households. Compared to 1985, we can find 9times increase in
the turnout of nonprofit sector in 2002. This means that the turnout of non-profit
sector in GDP increased over 12times from 0.19% in 1985 to 2.46% in 2002. Here,
we can find a very interesting feature, that is, the share of government is increasingfrom 7.3% in 1985 to 8.0% in 2002. This is contrary to conventional wisdom thatgrowth of non-profit sector would bring reduction of government.

(2) Employment share of NPOs/NGOs to total employment
I have examined employment share of NPOs/NGOs to total employment in severalcountries. U.S. is 9.8%, Japan is 4.2%, Korea is 2.4%, 36 countries average is 4.4%.
Compared to other countries, Korea is lowest.
(3) Income sources of NPOs/NGOs
In case of Japan, fees hold 52%, the assistance from public sector holds 45%. Whenit comes to donations in NPO, it is only 3%. A characteristic of income situation inKorean NPOs/NGOs is that fees are 71%. It means that they get more fees thanNPOs/NGOs do in any other countries. In Korea, government subsidy is 24%,
donations is 4%, respectively. Compared to other countries, Korea and Japan can
2get very small donations.

3.The comparison from a micro point of view
(1) Concept of NPOs/NGOs
In Korea, the concept of NGOs has no difference from that of NPOs. These twowords can be used as the same meaning with a citizen's group, the private group,etc. On the contrary, in Japanese NGOs points at activate worldwide and NPOs aregroups which act domestically.
About concept of NPOs/NGOs, Prof. Lester M. Salamon of Johns Hopkins
University will be acceptable. According to Prof. Salamon, NPOs are first, not profit
distributing. That is to say, do not distribute profits to their owners, second, private.
That is to say, not be a part of the apparatus of government, third, organization,whether formal or informal, forth, self-governing. And, fifth, voluntary, That is tosay, non-compulsory.
(2) The comparison of an act regarding NPOs/NGOs
Let me explain the comparison of an act regarding NPOs/NGOs between Korea
and Japan. Firstly, background of the legislation. Nowadays, NPOs/NGOs attract
world wide attention as a legitimate and very influential power to move society
forward, but they have not so long history in Korea and Japan .As you see on table
4,In Japan,Hanshin Awaji great earthquake disaster in January, 1995 was a goodchance for Japanese people to spotlight the importance and roles of Japanese NPOs
as a community leading figure.
On the other hand, in Korea, NGOs are originated from the establishment ofCitizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) in 1989. As you know, 1989 was
shortly after the democratization in Korea. That’s why we can think that
democratization was a good opportunity of the birth of Korean NGOs.
Secondly, I can point out a distinctive difference in the purpose of this act. KoreanNGOs are a kind of model that they should contribute to the development ofdemocracy and public interest, and this is one of the reasons why they may be said
that the Korean NGOs are one of the products of democratization. Thirdly, inaddition, a distinctive difference can be seen in the minimum number of members
required to become a juridical person. Japan is 10. Korea is 100. It has two3meanings. One thing is, Korean NGOs can work as a stronger society-changingforce. The other is Japanese NPOs can concentrate not in nationwide activities but
in community based activities.
(3) The field of activities ofJapanese NPOs

I have data for 1996, 2000, 2004. Through this period, "social welfare" iscontinuously highest, and subsequently "education/culture/ sports, and "community
based" is relatively high.

When it comes to areas of Japanese NPOs works, one of the most distinctive
characteristics of Japanese NPOs is that almost 70% of them work inside only onecity, town, or village. This makes them convenient to community-based work. It has
something to do with fields of activities of Japanese NPOs and it is a very goodcomparison with Korean NGOs, as follows.
(4)The field of activities of Korean NGOs
More than half of Korean NGOs have their main office in Seoul special
metropolitan city, capital of Korea. It is very convenient for Korean NGOs to work,when we take into account the characteristics of Korean NGOs.
Table 8 is related to fields of activity of Korean NGOs. Civil society holds 25.2%.
From this fact, I want emphasize that Korean NGOs have something in commonwith democratization because civil or civil society can be strongly combined withdemocratization. It means what Korean NGOs are doing and happening to them is
not just a coincidence.
More than half of Korean NGOs were established in 1990s. When we take into
account the fact that Korean people experienced democratization in 1987, this canprove indirectly that Korean NGOs have something to do with democratization.
( 5)The comparison of activity between the two countries
In Japan, Social welfare/health/medical care is highest (43.1%). But, in Korea, and4

civil society is highest (25.2%). This difference seems to come from a difference ofthe origin of NPOs/NGOs between the two countries.

4. Concluding Remarks
The activities of NPOs/NGOs related to social service delivery in Korea and Japanare quite different. I emphasized that, in Japan, the activities of NPOs/NGOs aremainly community-based, political influence of NPOs/NGOs is not so strong.
NPOs/NGOs are not directly involved in policy making process but in the supply ofsocial welfare service. On the contrary, in Korea, NPOs/NGOs are advocacy-oriented
and

they

havestrong

politicalorientation.

Thebackgroundof

thisisdemocratization.
Korean government introduced long term care scheme in July 2008. In Japan, it
was in 2000.
It is expected that the introduction of long term care scheme will enhance the rolesof community-based NPOs/NGOs, so was in Japan. This is very important point
when we argue the roles of NPOs/NGOs. Because, when it comes to social welfare
service delivery, NPOs/NGOs are indispensable government partners in the era ofsmall government and financial austerity.
To make NPOs/NGOs take more part in, I argue, it is necessary to take measures
as follows. First, to enhance the roles of NPOs/NGOs as a global network, second, toenlarge civil participation, third, to strengthen civil society partnership, fourth, toencourage international linkage and network between NPOs/NGOs. And, it is also
necessary to define their roles clearly and properly.

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