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Abstract
This study aims to elucidate the attributes of West German health and medical assistance provided to Korea in the 1970s and 1980s by analyzing the characteristics of governmental and private aid of religious development aid organizations. Starting in the 1970s, West German aid institutions began to expand assistance for social development in the name of “social justice,” thereby increasing financial and technical assistance for health and medical projects through both government and private aid agencies. In the field of health and medicine, “social justice” translated to resolving healthcare disparities between regions and social classes.
 The significant increase in health and medical assistance was primarily driven by Korean medical experts who actively established hospitals for the underprivileged and carried out community health projects in rural areas. By utilizing faith networks that existed between West Germany and Korea, they successfully obtained aid from several West German Christian development aid organizations. The Korean government cooperated with these internationally-funded health and medical projects as long as they did not develop into political resistance movements.
 The West German government provided private medical institutions in Korea with financial loans and technical assistance to construct hospitals and develop health interventions. The intended results envisioned by West German official aid was similar to those of private Christian development aid organizations. However, the West German government's medical support was implemented to solve their own domestic problems rather than to promote social justice. Throughout this period, the Korean government minimized its responsibility for resolving the local population's health care problems. Although the motto of “social justice” surrounding health and medical assistance was tied to the ideal of “publicness” of healthcare, the Korean government's passive approach to handling the country's health and medical challenges led to persistent social conflicts over healthcare, made more evident during the acceleration of medical marketization.
Published Version
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