1. On November 5, 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be holding a Joint Seminar with the 
Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and 
Development (OECD) in the Emerald Room, on the second floor of Lotte Hotel.  At the Seminar, participants 
will explore ways to improve the efficiency of Korea's Official Development Assistance (ODA), as well as to 
increase people's interest in ODA.

2. This seminar which will be held under the theme of "International Efforts to Eradicate Poverty and the Role 
of Korea's ODA" will be explaining the trend of the international community's discussion on the elimination of 
poverty and discussing how Korea's ODA policy can make substantial contribution to eradicating poverty in 
developing countries.

3. During the seminar, Mr. Hunter McGill, Head of Division of Review and evaluation at OECD, Mr. Chung 
Rae-kwon, Director General of International Economic Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade of the Republic of Korea, and Mr. Jan Vademoortele, Principal Adviser and Leader of the Socio-
economic Development Group at UNDP, will hold their presentations in the morning session, Mr. Richard 
Manning, Chairman of the OECD/DAC, Mr. Kwon Soon-won, Professor at Duksung Women's University, Mr. 
Kim Sang-tae, Executive Director of KOICA, will be participating as speakers for the afternoon session.  
Furthermore, national experts in fields related to development from countries such as Japan and Greece are 
scheduled to participate as discussion panelists.

4. DAC is one of the 24 committees within OECD and is a core international organization in the field of 
development cooperation, carrying out various activities such as making guidelines and recommendations 
on ODA policy toward developing countries. Currently, DAC has 22 member countries.  Korea participates in 
committee activities as an observer, not as an official member.  However, with the increase of Korea's ODA 
volume as well as the rising interest in ODA, Korea is taking more interest in the activities of the DAC. 




                                                                        Spokesperson of MOFAT

* unofficial translation