The Joint OECD/Korea Policy Centre (www.oecdkorea.org) is an international co-operation organisation established by a Memorandum of Understanding between the OECD and the Government of the Republic of Korea. The Centre – officially opened in 2008 – results from the integration of 4 pre-existing OECD/Korea Centres, one of which was the Regional Centre on Health and Social Policy (RCHSP), established in 2005.
The major functions of the Centre are to research international standards and policies on international taxation, competition, public governance, and social and health policy sectors in OECD member economies and to disseminate research outcomes to public officials and experts in the region. In the area of health and social policy, the Centre promotes policy dialogue and information sharing between OECD economies and non-OECD Asian/Pacific countries.
There are four main areas of work: social protection statistics (jointly with the International Labour Organisation and the Asian Development Bank); the Family Database for the Asia/Pacific region; health expenditure and financing statistics, quality of care indicators and policies to improve affordability of medicines (jointly with the World Health Organisation) and on pension policies (jointly with the World Bank). In pursuit of this vision, the Centre hosts various kinds of educational programme, international meetings, seminars, and workshops in each sector and provides policy forums presented by experts at home and abroad.