The Korea Institute of Public Administration(KIPA), a government‐affiliated national research and development institute within the jurisdiction of the Prime Ministerial Office, has embarked on a publishing project with the aim of identifying the key policies that were implemented by the past governments of the Republic of Korea as well as the background of each policy initiative and its execution. The endeavor materialized in the form of Key Policies and Administration of the Governments of the Republic of Korea, an eight‐volume book that deals with the related issues comprehensively.

The project of compiling and publishing the Korean edition, which had been planned and implemented since the latter part of 2013 with the participation of 80 scholars from the Korea Institute of Public Administration and other institutions, covers the development of the key policy initiatives and administration of the past governments of the Republic of Korea, from the Syngman Rhee administration to the Lee Myung Bak administration, from an objective and comprehensive perspective. The key sub-topics were selected by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, but the direction and contents of each selected subtopic were left to the discretion of each writer.

This book was completed by summarizing and editing the eight-volume Korean version published in 2015 and then translating the result into English. The book is made up of eight chapters, starting from Chapter 1: The Syngman Rhee/Jang Myeon Administration to Chapter 8: The Lee Myung Bak Administration. With the exception of the Heo Jeong Cabinet, which was an interim government, and the incumbency of President Choi Kyu Ha, the book covers the key policy initiatives and national projects of the past governments of the Republic of Korea as well as their efforts to reform the government. The introduction to this research can be found in the front section of Chapter 1, and the conclusion, in the concluding section of Chapter 8.