In 2024, the OECD released the report “Development Cooperation Review: Korea 2024.” This report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of Korea’s ODA policies and their current status. The strengths identified include the rapid expansion of ODA volume, robust government–civil society partnership, the scaling up of green ODA, a high share of support directed to Least Developed Coun-tries (LDCs), and enhanced effectiveness through the operation of field offices in partner countries.
Conversely, the report highlights several weaknesses, such as aid fragmentation, insufficient human resources relative to the increasing budget, and limited private-sector engagement. In addition, Korea’s ODA policy exhibits structural vulnerabilities, including a high proportion of loan relative to grant, a high share of bilateral assistance, and political influence in the formulation and implementation of ODA policies.
Since Korea’s accession to the DAC in 2010, its ODA has undergone changes in several areas, includ-ing overall volume, the ODA/GNI ratio, the share of grants versus concessional loans, and regional distribution patterns. In 2010, the scale of Korea’s ODA amounted to 933 million USD. This figure has exhibited a consistent upward trajectory, reaching 2.7 billion USD by 2023. Over the same period, Korea’s ODA-to-GNI ratio increased from 0.08 percent to 0.16 percent, and it has been reported that the ratio surpassed 0.2 percent in 2024. Although this level remains substantially below the OECD DAC target of 0.7 percent, the steady rise in Korea’s contribution ratio carries significant meaning in terms of its commitment to international development cooperation.
The expansion of Korea’s ODA is broadly aligned with the country’s rising income level and develop-mental orientation. Between 2010 and 2023, Korea’s GDP per capita grew from 25,455 USD to 34,121 USD, thereby enhancing its capacity to act as a donor. Korea’s distribution between grant-based aid and concessional loans has remained relatively stable, exhibiting an approximate 60–40 ratio. Given that many DAC member states provide nearly all of their ODA in the form of grants, Korea’s grant share can be considered comparatively low.4 Korea’s major ODA recipient regions are Asia and Africa. Data since 2015 indicate that approximately 55–60 percent of Korea’s ODA has been directed to Asia, while roughly 24–32 percent has been allocated to Africa.
To reach the current state of Korea’s ODA system, the Korean government has undertaken a wide range of efforts. Korea achieved rapid economic growth on its path from being one of the least devel-oped countries to becoming a member of the OECD. Throughout this process, Korea pursued multi-ple objectives through its ODA: while striving to promote the socioeconomic development of partner countries—the core purpose of ODA—it also sought to advance its own national interests. To this end, Korea adopted various ideas, including sharing elements of its development experience with other countries and implementing a strategy of “selection and concentration” to use its limited aid resources more effectively.
To support the ODA strategies and policies it envisioned, the Korean government pursued significant institutional reforms. It established a control tower to coordinate ODA policymaking and created im-plementation agencies to manage both concessional and non-concessional aid programs. The gov-ernment and the National Assembly also developed a comprehensive legal framework to underpin these institutional changes. In this way, Korea has shaped and implemented its ODA policies and strategies through systematic and multidimensional reforms across identity, interests, ideas, and in-stitutions. Using this analytical framework, this article explains Korea’s ODA policy through the lens of the “4 I’s”—identity, interests, ideas, and institutions.
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The views, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this report are solely those of its author(s) and do not reflect the view of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, or its employees.
