1. The Foreign Ministry’s independent panel on official development assistance (ODA) policy launched on April 28, completing its seven months of work, submitted a report on the outcome of its work to Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se on November 20. The report contains a future-oriented direction for the Foreign Ministry’s development cooperation policy and its implementation.

◦ The panel, led by former Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and composed of 12 people with expertise in development cooperation and a wide range of international affairs, objectively reviewed the Foreign Ministry’s grants policy and its overall implementation and held intensive discussions on the future direction of the Ministry’s foreign policy and its implementation, coming up with 20 concrete suggestions as a result.

2. The panel noted that the majority of the member states of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) set up ODA policies and implement them as part of their foreign strategies. In that context, the panel pointed out that in the case of the Republic of Korea, foundation was not strong enough to facilitate the implementation of its foreign strategy, whose main objective is to “become a middle power country that contributes to the co-prosperity of humanity,” and ODA policy in a systematically linked way.

3. In terms of the ROK’s vision to carry out middle power diplomacy through effective implementation of development cooperation policy, the independent panel raised the urgent need to strengthen the Foreign Ministry’s policy capacity as well as its function as the government agency leading ODA affairs in order to spearhead efforts to see not only a quantitative increase but also a qualitative leap of the ROK’s ODA.

4. In addition, the panel highlighted the need to build a system facilitating a consistent implementation by KOICA, the implementing agency of ODA projects, of the grants policy set by the Foreign Ministry. The group also brought attention to the need to build a reasonable work system between the Foreign Ministry and KOICA to facilitate cooperation and division of labor in the course of drawing up and implementing grants policies.

5. The work of the independent panel carries great significance as the first-ever opportunity to objectively evaluate the Foreign Ministry’s grants policy and its implementation since the Ministry established KOICA in 1991 and embarked on development cooperation affairs. The suggestions from the group are expected to serve as an important basis for the Foreign Ministry’s reviews of its foreign strategies and grants policy.

6. After being briefed by the independent panel on its suggestions, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se emphasized that despite its smaller ODA volume than advanced donor countries, the ROK should extend effective development cooperation, particularly in its relatively strong fields; and implement relevant projects in a smart way so as for them to play a role in the faithful implementation of the foreign strategy and policy of MIKTA.

7. The Foreign Ministry, since the ROK’s accession to the OECD/DAC in 2010, has been reviewing its development cooperation policy over the past four years; preparing for the upcoming “post-2015 regime” to determine international development agenda for the next 15 years; and participating in governmental consultations to map out “the second mid-term plan on development cooperation,” which will set the direction of the ROK’s development cooperation policy for 2016-2020. The independent panel’s suggestions will be fully reflected in the course of such work in an effort to implement grant projects, financed by Korean taxpayers, in a way that befits the ROK’s foreign strategy and enhances the development effectiveness.

◦ Furthermore, the Foreign Ministry will continue to seek evaluations of its grants policy by external experts in order to gather relevant opinions. 


                         Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation