This paper reviews and evaluates the development of Bank of Korea policy in historical and comparative perspective. The historical perspective focuses on the most recent of the three stages of Bank of Korea development: the period from its establishment in 1950 to the start of liberalization in the early 1980s; from the early 1980s to the Asian fi nancial crisis of 1997–98; and from the fi nancial crisis to the present. The comparative perspective considers the Bank of Korea in the context of the Bank of Japan and the U.S. Federal Reserve System. The Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve are meaningful bases for the Bank of Korea because of the historical and economic relationships among Korea, Japan, and the United States; the role Japan and the United States play in the world economy; and the infl uence at various times of the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve on the institutional design and development of the Bank of Korea.