To evaluate the impact of avoidable mortality on the changes in life expectancy at birth in Korea. Standard life table techniques and the Arriaga method were used to calculate and to decompose life expectancy changes by age, effects and groups of causes of avoidable mortality among two periods(1990-2000 and 2000-2009). A list of causes of avoidable mortality reached by consensus and previously published in Spain was used. Mortality in young adults produced a reduction in life expectancy at birth during the 1990-2000, but there was an important increase in life expectancy at birth during the 2000-2009; in both cases, this was the result of factors amenable to health policy interventions. The highest improvement in life expectancy at birth was due to non-avoidable causes, but avoidable mortality through health service interventions showed improvements in life expectancy at birth in those elderly people than 1 year and in those younger. Making a distinction between several groups of causes of avoidable mortality and using decomposition by causes, ages and effects allowed us to better explain the impact of avoidable mortality on the life expectancy at birth of the whole population and gave a new dimension to this indicator that could be very useful in public health.