
South Korea’s transformation from an aid recipient to a donor country provides key lessons to developing and developed countries alike, an international development expert said.
The Asian country can share to other countries its experience in fighting poverty, Kim Eun-Mee, a professor at the Ewha Womans University Graduate School of International Studies, told participants at a forum in Seoul attended by journalists, diplomats and scholars from at least 40 countries. It focused on South Korea’s experiences and its role as a donor country.
South Korea has a unique track record for graduating from a recipient to a donor country in less than a century, the Seoul Herald notes. It is the first former aid recipient country to join the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The country joined this exclusive club of donor countries in 2007, the newspaper adds.