In Korea, public institutions play a critical role in the national economy.  Korean public institutions not only provide public services to the market but also influence various private enterprises by entering procurement contracts. Thus, it is meaningful to review and analyze the ESG policies and trends in Korean public institutions, since they may have a broader effect. Public institutions are established and supported by government investment. Due to this government support, public institutions find it unnecessary to receive investment from the private sector or funding from financial institutions, which means the government is the key stakeholder with the largest influence on public institutions in terms of ESG policies. In this context, the Korean government unveiled
the “Economic Policy Direction for H2 2021” in June 2021, announcing that it would take measures to “ensure that public institutions will play a leading role in implementing ESG-based management.” The 2021 policy direction itself built upon several years of effort to implement ESG policy.