A Study on the Improvement of SDG3 Governance in Korea: Comparison with the case of Japan

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are launched in January 2016 and are global tasks for sustainable development of the economy, society and environment around the world from 2016 to 2030. SDGs call for efforts at the national level and implementation of SDGs has been critical because not only developing countries but also advanced countries must work together to resolve them. Korea submitted the Voluntary National Review to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in 2016 for global-level monitoring of SDGs implementation. According to the data by SDG Index & Dashboards Report, which is an assessment of the implementation of SDGs by country, South Korea's index ranking in implementing SDGs is in the mid-tier range. Meanwhile, Japan's SDG Index world ranking is higher than Korea's., but has a similar political and social system to Korea. In addition, the health systems for all citizens, such as Universal Health Coverage, and welfare policies to cope with aging societies, are similar to those of Korea. Thus, Japan's initial implementation case of SDGs will be of much help to improve Korea's SDGs governance in the future. Also, I hope to find how Korea can contribute to the global health community by implementing SDGs while examining two countries' national health strategy and policy which are associated with SDG3. Therefore, this study looked at how well Korea's SDGs implementation was performed in comparison with the Japanese case and compared how well the policies of the two countries on the health sector reflected SDG3. To carry out this study, the research method presented here is a literature review. I compared SDGs implementation system based on the detailed objectives of the Sustainable Development for 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, the governance questions required by the VNR, and the governance survey questions asked by the 2018 SDG Index & Dashboard. The results of this study are as follows. First, while the Ministry of Environment plays a central role to implement SDGs in Korea, the national health and medical targets in the Third Basic Plan for Sustainable Development failed to properly reflect the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 Agenda, and failed to establish appropriate measures for health and medical issues at home and abroad. Second, Korea's The Third Basic Plan has changed two years after its implementation, and this prevents consistent implementation of SDG for a long period of time until 2030. Also, Korea's implementation of SDGs is inconsistent as a country's policy because they are divided into domestic and international sectors and each ministry in charge establishes and implements policies. Third, Korea also has a health care system for all citizens like Japan. The Moon Jae In Care (Strengthening Health Insurance Coverage) is one of political agenda of current Moon administration is related to SDG3 including establishment of UHC. Also, K-SDGs do not include global health projects. On the other hand, most of Japan's policies related to SDG3 are global health projects including partnerships with international organizations and the agenda discussed at international conferences. Finally, the government of Korea is not very interested in SDGs even though it is the country that produced UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who led the MDGs era. In Japan's case, the Japanese government and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have expressed interest in SDGs from the stage of preparation, leading the implementation of SDGs as a national project. Policy implications obtained through this study are as follows. As one of G20 nations, Korea must be well positioned to be an example for implementing SDGs. Therefore, the government needs to be more interested in implementing SDGs and reorganize organizations and system that can enhance consistency and connectivity of SDGs implementation by utilizing existing organizational systems and policies. Also, if Korea's health policies and experience with Universal Health Care are reflected in K-SDGs and applied to the implementation of SDG3, Korea will also be able to find a leading role in global health.open석