The Committee for International Development Cooperation is the highest development co-operation decision-making body in Korea and leads Korea’s development co-operation under the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation, which strengthens the CIDC’s integration and co-ordination function and expands its secretariat, the Office for International Development Cooperation under the Office of Government Policy Coordination (OPC). The CIDC has 29 members, among them the prime minister, who serves as the chair, and ministers from 14 ministries, heads of KOICA and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), and 12 civilian experts. The CIDC, as the co-ordinating organisation, works to enhance development effectiveness and policy coherence through better co-ordination across ministries.
As supervising ministries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) are in charge, respectively, of the provision of grants and concessional loans. MoFA supervises grant projects delivered by implementing agencies, mainly KOICA. KOICA also manages the World Friends Korea Overseas Volunteer Program. The MoEF supervises KEXIM, which delivers loan programmes through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF). Most of Korea’s ODA budget is managed by MoFA and the MoEF and their respective implementing agencies, with the rest of this budget spread among 41 other government departments and institutions.
As of October 2023, staff working on development co-operation included 37 staff in the OPC based in Korea; 43 staff in the MoEF based in Korea; 194 EDCF (KEXIM) staff based in Korea; 28 EDCF (KEXIM) staff based in 16 partner countries; 18 EDCF (KEXIM) staff hired locally in partner countries; 42 MoFA staff based in Korea; 89 MOFA staff based in 85 partner countries; 296 KOICA staff based in Korea; 165 KOICA staff based in 47 partner countries; and 444 KOICA staff hired locally in partner countries.
