Policy referencing patterns in South Korea: The Free Year Program and the High School Credit Policy

This study sets out to examine the referencing patterns of two key policies in South Korea, the Free Year Program (FYP) and the High School Credit Policy (HSCP). Classic reference countries US and Finland were frequently cited in the HSCP sample while less cited references such as Ireland, Sweden, and Denmark appeared for the FYP. In many cases, referenced countries were linked to a distinct set of themes across policies. The active and widespread practice of referencing in Korea is demonstrated by the large proportion of external references at the start of each policy cycle for the FYP and HSCP as well as the wide range of reference countries spread across multiple themes. Our study demonstrates how the same borrower country (Korea) can develop a repertoire of varying reference societies depending on the specific policy to legitimize domestic pursuits.