S. Korea to increase int'l aid by 22.6 pct next year

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By Shim Sun-ah
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will increase the volume of annual
assistance it provides to developing countries by 22.6 percent to 1.34 trillion
won (US$1.1 billion) next year, the prime minister's office said Friday.
The amount set aside for next year's Official Development Assistance (ODA)
represents about 0.13 percent of the country's gross national income. South Korea
provided 1 trillion won worth of ODA this year, according to a provisional
government tally.
The decision was made during a meeting of a government committee tasked with
overseeing the country's ODA policy, the first such policy to be implemented
since South Korea gained membership to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC)
of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in November.
South Korea became the 24th member of the DAC, a club of donor countries and one
of the OECD's three largest committees, 14 years after it joined the OECD in
1996.
During the 6th meeting of the Committee for International Development and
Cooperation, the government decided to expand aid to African nations located
south of the Sahara and to Central Asian countries, though its focus will remain
on Asia, the prime minister's office said.
The government will also try to meet OECD efforts to attain the United Nation's
Millennium Development Goals by providing economic infrastructure in tandem with
food aid to countries in need, the office said in a press release. In addition,
Seoul will expand its support to large-scale civilian aid projects worth more
than $50 million and to the World Friends Korea program.
"South Korea became a member of the DAC just 14 years after it joined the OECD,
marking the first case of a country turning from aid recipient to donor," Prime
Minister Chung Un-chan said in his speech to the meeting.
He called for efforts to improve Korea's image as an advanced country by
efficiently pushing for the ODA and improving it both in quantity and quality in
the future.
The meeting was also attended by 14 government officials, including Foreign
Minister Yu Myung-hwan and Hur Kyung-wook, first vice-minister of strategy and
finance.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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