Opening Remarks
by H.E. Cho Tae-yul,
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs,
at the Seminar to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary
of the Republic of Korea’s Accession to the OECD

June 8, 2016
Secretary-General Angel Gurria,
Ambassador Yoon Jong-won,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to welcome all of you to this special event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Korea’s accession to the OECD. Let me first thank Secretary-General Gurria for taking the time out of his busy schedule to be here with us today. My special thanks also go to the OECD Secretariat and the Permanent Delegation of Korea to the OECD for the excellent preparations for this memorable event.


As I understand it, Secretary-General Gurria started his third term on June 1st, and I would like to take this opportunity to offer my heartfelt congratulations to him. Mr. Secretary-General, I am confident that, with your outstanding leadership, you will be able to transform the OECD into a more efficient and dynamic organization in the next five years.

Distinguished Guests,

Twenty years ago when Korea joined the OECD, the Cold War had just ended heralding a new international order and the wave of globalization was sweeping over the world in the aftermath of the creation of the WTO.

Riding this wave of global change, Korea belatedly became a member of the United Nations in 1991, and the OECD five years later.

Korea’s accession to the United Nations implied that the war-stricken divided nation victimized by the Cold War became a full-fledged member of the international community, while its accession to the OECD -- the rich men’s club -- signified that it emerged as a major player cum stakeholder of the global community.

Having experienced thirty years of high growth, Korea in the 1990s was in pursuit of a development strategy seeking a stable and sustainable growth. Therefore, transition into an advanced knowledge-based economy was not an option, but a must for Korea at that time, and joining the OECD was an important component of this development strategy.

On the other hand, the OECD in the 1990s was seeking to realize the spirit of the 1960 Paris Convention and opened its door to countries that were not yet fully qualified to be members of the “rich men’s club.” Several eastern European countries, Mexico and Korea became members of the OECD during this period.

Not surprisingly, skepticism was raised on whether these freshmen would be able to comply with the OECD standards and commitments. Korea, in particular, had to suffer from scathing comments that “Korea had popped the champagne too early” as it was hit by the Asian financial crisis that took place immediately after its joining the OECD.

However, the path that Korea’s economy has treaded on since then eloquently testifies that it was a right decision for Korea to join the OECD.

Since its accession to the OECD, Korea has not only accepted the OECD policy recommendations in a range of areas, including foreign investment attraction, deregulation and anti-corruption, but also has been continuously pursuing domestic reform by rapidly learning the policy experiences of other OECD member countries through such means as the peer review.
As a result, foreign direct investment inflow into Korea has significantly increased, while its GDP and per capita GDP grew two-fold during the past two decades. And progress was made not only in terms of quantity but also quality, as illustrated by the reduction of working hours and improved labor productivity.

In its “Better Policies Series: Korea” published last October, the OECD gave high marks on Korea’s accomplishments on the ground that Korea achieved convergence in living standards towards the Organization’s top performers.



Advances have been made not only in economic and social development, but also in governance. Korea has been actively participating in global anti-corruption efforts by, among others, enacting the Act on Preventing Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions in accordance with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. As a result, on the corruption perception index of Transparency International, Korea ranked 37th among 168 countries in 2015, an improvement from 48th among 90 countries in 2000.Such an improvement is far from impressive, but it is obvious that Korea’s political, economic and social system is becoming increasingly transparent.


Korea has achieved remarkable progress in development cooperation, too. Compared with 20 years ago, Korea’s ODA increased ten times. In 2010, as the host of the G20 summit, Korea also took the lead in adopting the G20 Development Agenda and a year later, contributed to shifting the focus of international development cooperation from aid effectiveness to development effectiveness, by hosting the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan. And last year, Korea was assessed to be a “solid development provider” in the DAC mid-term review.

Canadian novelist Lucy Montgomery once said, “The body grows slowly and steadily but the soul grows by leaps and bounds.” By joining the OECD, Korea’s aspiration for reform, openness and transparency grew by leaps and bounds, which in turn provided a solid foundation on which Korea’s economy has been able to achieve a stable and sustainable growth. Throughout this process, the OECD Secretariat and member countries have always been trustworthy and reliable supporters for Korea and I would like to express my deep appreciation for their full support.

Distinguished Guests,

Korea was not merely a beneficiary from its membership in the OECD. Its accession to the OECD contributed not only to expanding the Organization’s reach, but also to enhancing its role and contribution, especially by showcasing a new development model that the OECD member countries had not been able to provide previously.

More than anything else, a seed of hope was planted in developing countries that even the poorest of them that survive on foreign aid can become advanced donor countries if they work hard enough. This is a contribution that only Korea can make and no other country can emulate. Erik Solheim, the outgoing Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), used to say, “Remember the miracle number 369,” emphasizing that Korea’s per capita GDP increased 369 times since the early 1950s when the Korean War was over.

Indeed, Korea has been making sincere efforts to meet the level of trust and expectation of the international community. Not stopping at merely accepting the advanced norms of the OECD, Korea has been playing a greater role in setting the OECD policy direction and agenda building upon its unique development experience and international standing. Development cooperation, environment and science and technology are cases in point.

On development cooperation, as the host of the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2011 that I mentioned earlier, Korea played a leading role in opening a new chapter in the history of development cooperation by engaging all the development stakeholders on equal footing. Korea has also been actively participating in the follow-up platform -- the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation.

In addition, through joint research with the OECD Development Centre on Saemaul Undong that contributed to poverty reduction and development of the Korean rural areas in the 1970s, Korea devised a policy tool that could be shared with our development cooperation partners. This is only one example of many cooperation projects that make good use of Korea’s unique experience of transforming itself from an aid recipient into a full-fledged donor country.
In the field of environment, under Korea’s leadership, the Declaration on Green Growth was adopted at the 2009 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting. Since then, discussions on climate change and green growth have been activated in all OECD committees.

In the area of science and technology, by hosting the OECD Ministerial Meeting for Science and Technology in Daejeon last year, Korea contributed to the in-depth discussions on how to employ science, technology and innovation for sustainable development. And as a leading IT country, Korea has also been proactively participating in a wide range of discussions on information and communication and the digital economy.
With all these achievements during the past two decades, however, many tasks still remain unfinished. As the OECD Going for Growth report pointed out, the low productivity in the services sector, aging population and low female labor force participation rate are the main challenges that Korea needs to tackle and overcome.

In particular, the aging population issue that advanced countries commonly face is progressing most rapidly in Korea, and therefore we are in the situation of having to urgently come up with appropriate measures. We also need to contemplate on solutions for the rising income inequality, youth unemployment, and climate change.

In order to efficiently respond to these challenges and thereby achieve inclusive and sustainable growth, it is apparent that we need a new development strategy. The OECD echoed this by pointing out that being faced with social, economic and environmental challenges, Korea should re-engineer its development strategy.

Well aware of this need, the Park Geun-hye government has been striving to restructure Korea’s economy and seek new drivers of growth over the past three years. The three-year plan for economic innovation that centers around the creative economy, which aims to create new jobs and markets by linking individuals’ creative ideas with science and technology and promoting the fusion of different industries and culture, as well as the four major reform initiatives in public, labor, education and financial sectors are part of such efforts.

As I understand it, the OECD is also emphasizing the importance of policies that can enhance the potential productivity. The 2016 Ministerial Council Meeting, successfully concluded last week, focused on the very topic of enhancing productivity for inclusive growth in response to the twin challenges of slowing productivity growth and widening inequality of the global economy.

To adapt to the era of what we call the Fourth Industrial Revolution in which productivity is expected to grow rapidly due to the introduction of technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and 3D printer, we plan to take measures to maximize productivity gains of the digital economy, while ensuring that they are widely shared for the society as a whole.

To this end, we are going to actively promote research and development and expand the pool of experts, data infrastructure, industrial ecosystems and fusion industries by investing one trillion won for the next five years.

I have no doubt that the OECD will continue to be on our side as a trustworthy guide and reliable partner in all our moves towards economic and social reforms and bold ventures into new areas.

Distinguished Guests,

Over the next 20 years, the world will change faster and more extensively than the past 20 years. Korea is committed to working closely with the OECD so that it can function more effectively as an organization that adequately analyzes the trends in each area and presents policy alternatives.

We will increase our contribution especially in the areas that the OECD is pursuing with priority, such as the digital economy and innovation. We also hope to share with other OECD member countries our experience in implementing the policy of the creative economy that seeks sustainable growth through innovation.

Last year, global leaders adopted two historic documents, namely, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. Korea will actively take part in the OECD’s efforts to contribute to attaining the seventeen SDGs by 2030 and faithfully implementing the Paris Agreement with a focus on such areas as education, health, science and technology and rural development where Korea has better knowledge and experience of overcoming the constraints of developing countries in their quest for prosperity.

Distinguished Guests,

Working together to create global public goods during the past two decades, Korea has built a relationship of deep trust with the OECD. Today’s seminar is an excellent opportunity to not only reaffirm such trust, but to renew our commitment to a new start for the next twenty years and pull our wisdom on what Korea and the OECD should and could do to seek “Better Policies for Better Lives”. I wish you all the best in your intellectual exercise to this end today.

Thank you. /END/