ODA Spending

How much ODA does South Korea allocate to global health?

South Korea was the 9^th-largest OECD DAC donor to global health in 2023 in absolute terms and 7^th-largest relative to its ODA/GNI ratio.

How is South Korean global health ODA changing?

South Korea spent 13% of its ODA on global health in 2023, half of it peak level in 2020, according to the OECD DAC. The decrease in health funding is largely due to the decrease in health spending related to the COVID-19 response. Funding levels still remain elevated compared to pre-COVID-19 spending.

How does South Korea allocate global health ODA?

Bilateral Spending

74% of South Korean global health funding was channeled via bilateral contributions in 2023, including earmarked funding through multilaterals, which accounted for 32% of global health ODA. South Korea’s proportion of multilateral increased significantly in 2023, indicating the country’s recent openness and increased interest in multilateralism.

Multilateral Spending and Commitments

Multilateral funding accounted for 26% of total ODA to health in 2023, double 2022 levels. The South Korean government plans to continue its efforts to be a responsible member of the international community by cooperating with numerous global health initiatives.

On November 21, 2023, South Korean Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Ki-hwan Kwon met with CEPI Chairwoman Jane Halton. South Korea reaffirmed its plans to expand CEPI collaboration to address future infectious diseases.

South Korea also joined the ACT-A as a Facilitation Council member, providing strategic advice and guidance to ACT-A and is one of eight countries—with the US, China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, and Mexico—in the Market Leader Group.

Funding & Policy Outlook

What is the current government's outlook on global health ODA?

On December 15, 2024, South Korean Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo attended the 17^th Tripartite Health Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo, Japan. Ministers from China and Japan, the WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, and the Secretary-General of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat were also present to discuss the critical role of health cooperation. The meeting focused on three key themes, such as ensuring public health security, promoting healthy aging, and building more resilient, equitable, and sustainable health systems to achieve universal health coverage. The meeting concluded with the adoption of a joint statement.

In collaboration with the WHO, South Korea hosted the World Bio Summit on November 11-12, 2024: Under the theme “Future Investments for a Healthy and Secure Decade,” health ministers, vice ministers, heads of international organizations, representatives from vaccine and bio companies, and experts gathered together to discuss global issues in the vaccine and bio sectors.

From November 12-14, 2024, South Korea hosted the second World Health City Forum in partnership with the Incheon city government under the theme was “Urbanization and Planetary Health: How to Make Smart Health Cities?”: Participating key figures included former Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon and Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as well as many other officials from governments and international organizations. Expanding on the Incheon Declaration from 2023, the forum emphasized the importance of resilient and sustainable cities and highlighted the urgent need for cities to come together to address pressing challenges such as climate change and pandemics.

On December 13, 2023, the South Korean MOFA co-hosted the 2023 Health Cooperation Forum in the Indo-Pacific Region with the US Department of State and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The forum marked the third time that the South Korean MOFA has organized a forum on health cooperation with key partner countries in the Indo-Pacific region. It served as an opportunity for ASEAN and Korean health experts to discuss concrete ways to cooperate on healthcare information, infectious disease crisis response, and health workforce capacity building as one of the key priorities of the KASI.

On December 3, 2023, South Korean 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Min-soo Park attended the 16th Tripartite Health Ministers Meeting alongside Japan and China to discuss strengthening cooperation in the healthcare sector, including joint response to infectious diseases. The leaders of the three countries adopted a joint declaration, signed a memorandum of health cooperation, and agreed to outline their joint response to public health crises, including future pandemics.

From November 20-21, 2023, South Korea co-hosted the 2nd World Bio Summit with the WHO to discuss building pandemic preparedness and response systems, featuring representatives from national governments, the scientific community, the private sector, and international organizations in the vaccine and biofields.

From November 20-22, 2023, South Korea hosted the first World Health City Forum in partnership with the Incheon city government, Seoul National University, Ewha Womans University, and Yonsei University. Following thorough review and final consensus from the participants, the Incheon Declaration was officially adopted. Its priorities included:

• Improving equity, fairness, and social justice in the health sector;
• Strengthening people-centered community care services; and
• Fostering participatory governance for inclusive health, safety, and resilience.

According to the 2025 Annual Implementation Plan, South Korea will expand global health cooperation in response to the global health crisis through the expansion of the provision of essential healthcare services, including UHC for vulnerable groups and support for building tailored healthcare systems in partner countries. South Korea will also focus on projects for building medical infrastructure and training healthcare personnel, while supporting the strengthening of developing countries’ economic and social resilience by linking to establishing healthcare development plans.

Former President Yoon Suk-Yeol signaled that he would strengthen the response system to infectious diseases with the aim of making South Korea a vaccine powerhouse. He has made the commitment to establish a global vaccine hub and expand health R&D in bio-digital and advanced medical care.

South Korea was designated as a WHO Global Biomanufacturing Training Hub, with the aim of strengthening partnerships to support the global COVID-19 response. South Korea committed to providing 3.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as a total of US$200 million in support through COVAX to the AU. This partnership in vaccine development and bioindustry workforce training will boost development cooperation between South Korea and Africa.

Global health is a priority issue in the Mid-term Strategy for Development Cooperation (2021-2025) and has grown in importance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korea adopted the following multipronged approach until 2022:

• Increasing ODA to health by 11% from KRW425 billion, or US$329 million, in 2022 to KRW473.3 billion, or US$366 million, in 2023;
• Strengthening support for the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines;
• Developing the health and medical systems of partner countries;
• Building the infectious disease response capacity in partner countries by providing training and establishing healthcare facilities; and
• Enhancing South Korea’s contributions by leveraging the solidarity groups for global health security that it leads in the UN, WHO, and UNESCO as well as building partnerships with CSOs, private sector, research institutions, and philanthropic organizations.

South Korea pledged US$100 million to the Global Fund for the 2023-2025 period at the Global Fund’s 7^th replenishment conference in 2022. This is the highest pledge ever made by South Korea, representing a fourfold increase from its 2020-2022 pledge of US$25 million. At Gavi’s midterm review meeting in December 2018, South Korea became the first donor to commit its support to Gavi for the 2021–2025 strategic period.

Key Bodies