South Korea's Development Cooperation Strategy: Complex Networking for Aid Effectiveness

The 2011 Busan High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, held in South Korea—the only country to have transitioned from a recipient to a donor nation—holds significant implications for establishing South Korea's international standing and formulating a new diplomatic vision. Recognizing the need for ongoing consideration of Official Development Assistance (ODA) policy as a continuous diplomatic strategy rather than a one-off event, the East Asia Institute (EAI) launched an ODA research team. This team, comprising five experts, reviewed South Korea's ODA policies and analyzed international norms to formulate a development cooperation strategy for the nation. On Friday, March 23, the EAI hosted a final report presentation, which included the research team's findings followed by a panel discussion with experts from various fields.

Report Presentation

As South Korea has become a donor member by joining the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), it is necessary to consider what role it should play moving forward. Furthermore, within domestic politics, development cooperation policy is related to broader areas such as diplomacy, economy, and education, making its relationship with major domestic policies important. Notably, the actors in development cooperation have diversified beyond government agencies to include the private sector, corporations, and NGOs, and networks with markets and civil society are becoming increasingly complex. Complex networking encompasses global governance, multilateral systems for development cooperation, policy harmonization at the domestic level, and governance between the government and civil society.

Chapter 2 provides an overall perspective on the architecture of development cooperation. It first raises fundamental questions arising from the changing international order and then proposes the role that South Korea, as a middle power, should fulfill in this context. Chapter 3 summarizes the history of international development cooperation, the history of South Korea's development cooperation, and the problems within South Korea's development cooperation system. Chapter 4 explains the development cooperation policies of major donor countries through case studies of several representative nations. It analyzes the development cooperation models of key donors in terms of actors, structures, and strategies, and proposes a new typology to identify a suitable model for South Korea from a complex networking perspective. The final Chapter 5, serving as the conclusion, outlines the future direction for South Korea at a macro level, identifies issues within South Korea's development cooperation promotion system, and summarizes South Korea's development cooperation strategy.

Evaluation and Recommendations

Enhancing the Substance of Development Cooperation Projects

The future challenge lies in developing more substantive development cooperation approaches. Currently, developing countries' primary concern is poverty eradication, and identifying what they need to achieve this is the most critical issue. However, South Korea still discusses supply-driven development cooperation. While South Korea achieved compressed economic growth in a short period, compressed growth in the field of development cooperation is not feasible in a short timeframe. Evaluating recipient countries' needs within a South Korean framework to enhance the efficiency of invested funds and human resources is extremely difficult, with few success stories even among developed nations. South Korea's budget for international aid is very small, ranking 26th in terms of ODA/GNI ratio, placing it among the lowest in the OECD. To utilize this budget effectively, South Korea must leverage its comparative advantages. By drawing on its experience in economic development, learning from the technologies and know-how of developed countries, and meticulously analyzing the conditions of recipient countries, cooperation effectiveness must be maximized. An appropriate mechanism for cost-effectiveness evaluation is also necessary.

Establishing a Korean Development Model

As a new member of the OECD DAC, South Korea is striving to comply with existing international norms while simultaneously exploring ways to act as a bridge by understanding the emerging paradigm shifts expected by developing countries from newly emerging donor countries. Developed nations have established organic systems over long periods through policy formulation and project implementation. In South Korea's case, there is a need to nationally redefine the fundamental causes, objectives, and vision of development cooperation. Contributing to the creation of creative global governance within the international aid community is the direction South Korea should pursue, and the development of policy agendas for this purpose is urgently needed.

Strengthening Complex Networks

The reason why aid effectiveness must be evaluated in the context of networking is the strengthening of complex networks both domestically and internationally. Civil society organizations are participating more actively, and corporations are also involved in development aid and cooperation through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In this context, considerations must be given to whom to connect with and how to allocate resources. Furthermore, to effectively utilize South Korea's soft power within complex networks, a sober assessment is needed of South Korea's role and extent of participation in forming and operating networks.

Fundamentally, development cooperation should begin with economic development, transition to human development, and ultimately aim for value development. Therefore, cooperation and networking with civil society organizations, which possess greater expertise than government agencies in areas such as human resource development, human rights, democracy, trust, and transparency, are also important. ■

Moderator

Lee Sook-jong, President of the East Asia Institute; Professor at Sungkyunkwan University

Presenters

Koo Jeong-woo, Professor at Sungkyunkwan University

Kim Tae-gyun, Professor at Ewha Womans University

Sohn Yeol, Professor at Yonsei University

Lee Seung-ju, Professor at Chung-Ang University

Discussants

Kwon Yul, Research Fellow at the Korea Development Institute

Kwon Hyuk-joo, Professor at Seoul National University

Lee Sung-hoon, Executive Director of the Korea Human Rights Foundation

Lim Jeong-taek, Director of the Development Policy Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Jang Jae-yoon, Head of Policy Planning Department, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)

Cha Moon-joong, Director of the Center for International Development Cooperation, Korea Development Institute (KDI)