The purpose of this study is to explore the contexts and characteristics of Korea’s support for its Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP), especially the Policy Consultation. Specifically, it analyzes the correlations among the factors influencing the all...
The purpose of this study is to explore the contexts and characteristics of Korea’s support for its Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP), especially the Policy Consultation. Specifically, it analyzes the correlations among the factors influencing the allocation of financial resources to the Policy Consultation and determines their statistical significance using the T-test.
Unlike the conventional unilateral material assistance transferred by donors to recipients, the KSP is well-received by international aid communities as the contents fitting the knowledge sharing and valuing the bilateral exchange between donors and recipients. Notably, Korea has been advocated by international aid communities as the best practice of transforming itself into a donor from a recipient, being equipped with tangible comparative advantages in comparison to other advanced countries that have never been recipients of aids, and being willing to share its development-related experience and knowledge with recipients.
Despite its substantiality, the KSP has not been well-documented due to the short history of its implementation, with relevant research limited to collective data analyses or policy suggestions.
Hence, this study sheds light on the fact that the support fund for the Policy Consultation for 43 countries from 2004 to 2013 has substantially increased since Korea joined the DAC in 2010, and particularly homed in on Asia, industrial policies and economic development plans. Also, it may be inferred that following the increase in support fund, the Policy Consultation has been characterized by the strategies for seeking new recipient countries rather than staying focused on existing recipients.
In addition, to explore the factors influencing the allocation of financial resources to the Policy Consultation, this study sets up independent variables using the DI(Donor Interest)-RN(Recipient Needs) model, which was used to analyze the allocation of financial resources to the ODA.
In terms of DI, this study analyzes the statistical significance of the variables, i.e. the volume of trade with partners, amount of direct investment in partners, summit talks with partners and cumulative lengths of established diplomatic relations with partners. In view of RN, partner countries’ per capita GDP, LDCs and political stability of partner governments are analyzed as variables.
The analysis of the correlation between variables indicates a notable correlation between the support fund for the Policy Consultation and the summit talks. Also, the amount of direct investment and per capita GDP have significant correlations with the support fund for the Policy Consultation.
The T-test illuminates the statistical significance of the increase in support for the Policy Consultation in proportion to the volume of trade with and the direct investment in partners from the perspective of DI. Also, the summit talks are statistically significant. From the perspective of RN, the smaller the per capita GDP of a partner country, the greater the allocation of financial resources to the Policy Consultation, which is statistically significant.
The limited data precludes any empirical analysis of the effects among variables. Still, this study should be noted in that it takes the first feasible approach to the factors influencing the allocation of financial resources to the KSP.
This study will lay the foundation for further discussions concerning the allocation of financial resources to the KSP and serve as some reference data conducive to further studies on diverse options for economic cooperation linked to the ODA of Korea.