KOICA president vows to pursue 'Korean-style of ODA'

President of the Korea International Cooperative Agency Sohn Hyuk-sang / courtesy of KOICA

By Kim Jae-heun

The President of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Sohn Hyuk-sang, said the organization will push forward with a new way of official development assistance (ODA) that acts in concert with the government's policy.

Incumbent President Moon Jae-in seeks to strengthen economic cooperation with 14 Eurasian countries including Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan while entering the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) market which is home to 600 million people.

The government is also determined to pursue its “Green New Deal” policy centering on sustainable development.

“In the line with the government's initiative, we will expand the Green New Deal and ODA plan in Eurasian and Southeast Asian countries while establishing remote-control systems and digitalization in accordance with the need to maintain social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic,” KOICA President Sohn said.

“We have been benchmarking the ODA policies of developed countries until now, but from now, we will lead the global cooperative development in our own way,” Sohn added.

Sohn has been active in various organizations in the international field of cooperative development for 20 years, such as schools, governmental agencies, non-governmental and international organizations.

“Based on my experience, I will improve public awareness of ODA and promote effective projects pursuing co-prosperity between Korea and developing countries,” Sohn said.

KOICA celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Its budget has been increasing annually and currently stands at around 1 trillion won.

In January, the government announced 27 countries as key cooperative partners. Most of those countries are located in Eurasia and Southeast Asia.

For Eurasia, the government allocated 36.7 billion won of its ODA budget, up 22.5 percent year-on-year. The government set aside 135.9 billion won for Southeast Asia, up 36.7 percent.

In Southeast Asian countries, KOICA plans to cooperate and aid in the fields of medicine, human resources and culture while helping develop agricultural regions as well as cities.

In Eurasia, the agency's main goal is to establish a Korean-style quarantine governance against the pandemic. Its program focuses on achieving a recovery from COVID-19 pandemic. The program is abbreviated “ABC,” signifying “Action to Fragility,” “Building Capacity” and “Comprehensive Cooperation.”

This year, the program focuses on controlling the virus and beefing up health service capabilities rather than an “emergency response” to the new coronavirus.

Last year, KOICA sent epidemiologists to Cambodia, who helped the country prevent a further spread of the disease while bolstering its healthcare system.