Abstract

The growing demand to reform South Korea's inequitable and commercialized healthcare system underscores the critical necessity for comprehensive structural change. Current efforts to improve economic accessibility by expanding health insurance coverage have proven insufficient, underscoring the need to advance "public healthcare" as a central focus of reform. Despite its growing prominence, the concept of publicness remains insufficiently examined within academic discourse, particularly concerning its theoretical foundations, practical implications, and the specific dimensions in which the current healthcare system is critically assessed as deficient. This study critically investigates the discourse on publicness in South Korea's healthcare system, analyzes the current state of public healthcare as defined by legal frameworks, and identifies key directions for future research. It calls for a paradigm shift from the conventional focus on state-centered ownership structures to a multidimensional conceptualization of publicness. This approach involves defining the fundamental essence of publicness that healthcare systems should aim to achieve while systematically investigating the institutional configurations necessary for its realization and addressing the structural and practical barriers that obstruct progress. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of analyzing the political and contextual dynamics of healthcare policy-making. By examining how policy priorities are established, identifying the key actors involved, and understanding their underlying interests, such research can generate critical insights to inform the design of alternative frameworks capable of reshaping both policy and discourse. As societal calls for public healthcare intensify, this study underscores the importance of systematic and rigorous academic engagement to address these pressing issues. Ultimately, this paper provides a foundation for scholarly inquiry into public healthcare and publicness, contributing to the development of transformative strategies for healthcare reform.