Korean official assistance breaks 4 trillion won for first time

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum announces this year's ODA during a meeting held in Seoul, Thursday. [YONHAP]

Korea's official support for developing countries is set to exceed 4 trillion won ($3.3 billion) for the first time.

Official development assistance (ODA) has been set at 4.04 trillion won for this year, up 7.7 percent from 2021, according to an announcement from the Prime Minister's office, the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry.

The decision was made during the Committee for International Development Cooperation meeting headed by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.

This year, ODA will mainly be focused on digital transformation and include science, technology and ICT projects.

According to the government, it plans to help developing countries to adopt Korea's digital models to achieve sustainable growth.

While Korea has lagged other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations in terms of ODA as a percentage of gross national income, it had led in terms of science and ICT ODA.

Projects receiving funding will include those related to medical services, smart cities, transportation, smart farms and digital education.

Asian developing countries will receive 37 percent of the support and African countries 19 percent.

The ODA will be allocated to 1765 projects, up from 1,699 in 2021.

Health care projects will receive 13.2 percent of the funding, transportation 13.1 percent, humanitarian projects 9.8 percent and education 9.1 percent.

"As Korea's status in the global community has risen, there is a growing demand for Korea to play a larger role, accordingly," Prime Minister Kim said. "There is emphasis on the importance of ODA in tackling current global issues including Covid-19 and climate change."

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]