Introduction: The South Korean Development Experience

Abstract

It has become almost a cliché within the global ODA (Official Development Assistance) community to stress South Korea’s unique position as a former aid recipient turned into an emerging donor. South Korea received foreign aid of nearly USD 13 billion over the latter half of the 20th century. In 2010 alone, however, it provided to the developing world an amount nominally equal to what it had received (although much smaller in real terms), and plans to increase its annual ODA to USD 30 billion by 2015. Not surprisingly, many developing countries show a keen interest in how South Korea achieved such a feat, and the South Korean government is eager to promote its past development experience as the distinctive strength of the “Korean ODA model.”