Policy Updates

On March 5, 2024, South Korea and Australia renewed their MOU on development cooperation since its first signing in 2019.

The renewed MOU outlined an institutional framework for cooperation on new bilateral development cooperation policies, cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and sectors (gender equality, climate change, humanitarian assistance, etc.), and strengthening of cooperation mechanisms. In particular, the document set out guidelines for Director General level-biennial meetings of Development Cooperation Policy Council.

The updated agreement is expected to further strengthen cooperation between South Korea and Australia to contribute to the stability of the Indo-Pacific region.

On February 20, 2024, KOICA’s resident officer in India and USAID's India office signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen development cooperation partnerships in India, a key country in the South Korean government’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.

The cooperation is intended to support the sustainable development of countries in the Indo-Pacific region through trilateral cooperation between India, the US, and South Korea. KOICA and USAIDare slated to cooperate in four sectors in India:

• Women’s economic empowerment;
• Disaster and climate resilience;
• Digital literacy; and
• Trilateral cooperation.

KOICA and USAID expressed the intention to explore new development projects in India and bolster joint projects between South Korea and the US. The two countries plan to develop a concrete cooperation plan for the empowerment of female social entrepreneurs in India to support the economic empowerment of women in India.

On September 21, 2023, South Korean President Suk-yeol Yoon stated in his keynote speech at the 78^th UN General Assembly that South Korea will greatly expand its ODA budget and pursue tailored development cooperation with partner countries in the future.

The government has expanded the ODA budget for 2024 by more than 40% compared to 2023, despite 2023's fiscal austerity policy. The ODA 2024 budget will be twice as large as South Korea's 2019 ODA budget.

Yoon highlighted educational and climate ODA as partner priorities. He added the South Korea has a prominent role in reducing digital divide with partner countries given its notable ICT and technological capacity. South Korea will host the AI Global Forum in 2024.

On May 29, 2023, President Suk-yeol Yoon hosted the 2023 Korea-Pacific Islands Summit in Seoul with Pacific Islands countries.

Participants discussed enhancing ongoing cooperation in line with South Korea's Indo-Pacific Strategy. They also adopted the 2023 Korea-Pacific Islands Leaders Declaration on a Partnership in Pursuit of Freedom, Peace and Prosperity for a Resilient Pacific. The declaration underscored comprehensive security cooperation in areas such as maritime, climate, energy, cyber, and health. It also highlighted South Korea's plan to double the ODA budget for Pacific Island countries to US$40 million (KRW53 billion) by 2027.

In addition, the summit organized special events addressing digital, forest, oceans and fisheries, and green growth. At the 2023 Korea International Cooperation Conference on Oceans and Fisheries, invited ministers and government officials announced a new plan for oceans and fisheries cooperation called the Korea-Ocean Economy Initiative.

On February 9, 2023, the 44th Committee for International Development Cooperation finalized the 2023 ODA Implementation Plan, setting the 2023 ODA budget at US$3.8 billion (KRW4.8 trillion).

The allocation comprises an increase of 21.3% from 2022 ODA and a 5.1% increase from the 2023 budget proposal of US$3.6 billion (KRW4.6 trillion). The 2023 ODA budget is the largest ever in the past decade, reaffirming President Yoon Suk-yeol's commitment to making South Korea one of the world’s top 10 ODA donors.

Notable budget line increases included a 27.6% increase in humanitarian assistance to US$317 million (KRW403.6 billion) for strengthening responses to global crises such as conflict, climate change, and infectious diseases. Also, the government committed to doubling ODA to partner countries in Africa to US$850 million (KRW1.08 trillion) by 2030.

On January 19, 2023, President Yoon Suk-yeol shared that South Korea planned to increase support to partner countries via 'green ODA at the 2023 WEF Annual Meeting in Davos.

Green ODA refers to development cooperation in consideration of the environment to support mitigation and adaptation to respond to climate change. South Korea introduced green ODA in 2009 in conjunction with the national green growth strategy.

In December 2020, the 2050 carbon neutrality promotion strategy was announced and green ODA was highlighted. The South Korean Ministry of Environment plans to increase the ratio of green ODA by 2025, in accord with Yoon's announcement.

COP27, the UN Conference of the Parties (COP), completed its last thematic day on November 17, 2022, focusing on ‘solutions.’ As the conference entered the penultimate day of negotiations, the release of a draft agreement emphasized both progress to date and the enormity of the task ahead.

Key Statements & Discussions

Keeping with the day’s theme of actionable commitments to decarbonization and reducing global warming, Australia’s bid to host COP31 was met with mixed reception from world leaders. While many applauded the new government’s renewed commitment to climate change, they also suggested that the government would need to stop investing in fossil fuels before a bid would be approved.

As COP27 negotiations neared their scheduled end, a group of representatives from Canada, the EU, and the UK emphasized the need for concrete conference outcomes to the Egyptian Presidency. Delegates stressed that COP27 negotiations would need to produce coherent, actionable outcomes to be perceived as successful, and highlighted a variety of flaws and conflicts remaining in the current draft.

The draft decision in question was 20 pages long as of Thursday, containing many placeholders as negotiations on key issues continued. Tracking from Carbon Brief indicated that the length of the document, as well as the number of remaining issues, would lead to negotiations continuing beyond COP27’s scheduled end on November 18, 2022. While the G20’s support for the 1.5 degree Celsius target somewhat preempted negotiations on the topic at COP, there has been no resolution on major points such as funding for loss and damage and reforming climate finance architecture.
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Key financial commitments

Pledges on ‘Solutions’ day primarily focused on sustainable transportation. The UK COP26 Presidency announced several new initiatives aimed at increasing the production and use of zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV), including a ‘Global Commitment,’ backed by the US, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, and the UK, which will provide finance for ZEV transitions in low- and middle-income countries. Specific details on funding flows and amounts were not provided.

Several other pledges from earlier in COP27 were also highlighted, including:

• €1 billion (US$1 billion) from the EU, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark to support initiatives led by the African Union (AU) focusing on climate risk data, early warning systems, mobilizing finance, and disaster risk finance on November 16, 2022;
• €60 million (US$62 million) from the EU to support loss and damages on November 16, 2022;
• €40 million (US$41 million) from Germany to support the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Climate Action Window on November 16, 2022;
• US$20 million for the World Food Program (WFP) through the World Bank from Germany and the UK on November 16, 2022; and
• NOK 100 million (US$10 million) from Norway to support the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), on November 9, 2022.

Agenda

COP27 is scheduled to conclude on Friday, November 18, 2022, but negotiations may extend into the following week.

On November 7-8, 2022, South Korean Ambassador for Climate Change Kyung-won Na attended COP27, the UN Conference of the Parties’ (COP), in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.
Na reaffirmed South Korea’s commitment to responding to global climate change with innovations in technology, in accord with the government's Global Pivotal State (GPS) foreign policy agenda. She also shared the South Korea's intent to maintain the previous government's 40% greenhouse gas reduction target.
Na elaborated on South Korea's plans for domestic energy transition, which prioritizes green and nuclear energy production. She also shared that South Korea will support the green transformation of low- and middle-income countries by sharing climate technology vis-a-vis 'green ODA' initiatives.

The 'High Ambition Coalition to Stop Plastic Pollution,' a group of like-minded countries that have taken the initiative to form a coalition committed to developing a legally binding global agreement against plastic pollution, launched on August 22, 2022; the coalition aims to end oceanic plastic pollution by 2040.
Every year, between 5 -12 million tonnes of plastic waste end up in the oceans, contributing to environmental degradation and increasing microplastics in water. Without effective measures, oceanic plastic pollution is expected to triple by 2040.
The coalition, chaired by Norway and Rwanda, currently has 20 members including Canada, Peru, Germany, Senegal, Georgia, South Korea, UK, Switzerland, Portugal, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Costa Rica, Iceland, Ecuador, France, and the Dominican Republic.
The US, China, and India - the world's largest plastic producers - and other large producers are noticeably absent from the coalition.
Members of the coalition will meet in New York at the upcoming UN General Assembly in September 2022, followed by a formal meeting in Uruguay on November 28, 2022.
Website - High Ambition to End Plastic Pollution
Government of Sweden - Press Release (in Swedish)
News article - Argus

South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MOE) aims to strengthen its 'Green New Deal' official development assistance (ODA) specialized in climate and the environment through contributions to the International Environmental Cooperation Center.

The ODA budget allocated to MOE has increased from US$12 million in 2019 to US$15 million in 2021. Throughout regular public-private strategic meetings, MOE will expand the scale of green new deal ODA projects and diversify environmental ODA into multiple sectors. In particular, MOE aims to increase the proportion of ODA in the climate and environment sector from 19.6% as of 2015-2019 to 28.1% - the average of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

News article – Electronic times (in Korean)