Lee calls for greater South Korean assistance to global community

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Nov. 30 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak urged his country on Monday to
increase its support and economic aid to the international community, saying it's
time for the world's 15th largest economy to act more responsibly.

Lee also welcomed Seoul's recent entry into the OECD's Development Assistance
Committee, calling it an event that marks the country's becoming one of the
wealthiest nations from one of the poorest.
"This means our nation has now truly become a donor from a recipient," the
president said in his biweekly radio address. "Our nation is the only country in
the world to have developed so quickly among those founded since the end of World
War II."
"This is a miracle that we've made happen and an amazing story of success in the
history of mankind," he added.
Lee said, however, that South Korea could not have reached where it is now
without the help of other advanced and responsible members of the international
community.
"We have shown to the world that such help was not wasted and that it must also
be extended to others," he said. "And now it is time for us to start paying back
our debt to the international community."
South Korea has already decided to triple its official development aid, including
free financial support, for the underdeveloped countries through 2015 while
doubling the number of volunteers to work in those countries to 20,000, Lee said.
South Korea will also actively share its development experience and technical
know-how with the rest of the world, he said.
"Along with our know-how that led to our political and economic success, we will
be sharing our dream that led us out of one of the world's poorest countries to
one of the largest economies," Lee said.
The president also stressed the importance of the country's contribution to the
world's peacekeeping efforts, recalling that tens of thousands of troops from 16
allied countries fought and died while defending South Korea from a communist
invasion in the 1950-53 Korean War.
About 700 South Korean troops are currently deployed in 14 conflict areas
throughout the world. South Korea is now moving to send an additional 150
civilian engineers to Afghanistan and some 300 troops to protect them.
"I believe helping others is now our responsibility and duty," the president said.
"Our efforts toward peace and prosperity of the world will be part of a joint
investment in the future of mankind and the surest way for us to be loved and
respected by the rest of the world. And they will come back to us as greater
prosperity and peace," he added.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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