5 - Transformation of South Korea’s National Status and Its Diplomacy to Africa: Towards the Establishment of Partnerships through Minilateral Frameworks

Presentation Abstract
The history of South Korea’s foreign aid demonstrates the significance of structural constraints in determining its aid behavior. The Cold War compelled South Korea to provide aid to other developing countries even though it was suffering extreme poverty and economic problems. Although the Cold War structure in the Korean peninsula has not yet changed, the end of the Cold War brought about a shift in the central motivation for South Korea's ODA from political and diplomatic imperatives to economic ones. In the 2000s, once again, the transition in the distribution of power within the international system brought about a drastic transformation to South Korea’s foreign aid. South Korea established its national status as an emerging power, and it, on the one hand, provided South Korea with the opportunity to be more active and autonomous in the international development community than before. On the other hand, however, it means that South Korea is still at a disadvantage in providing foreign aid because of its smaller economy compared to major countries. As a major tool in its foreign policy, foreign aid has contributed to South Korea’s cooperative relations with Africa since the Cold War era. Dividing the history of South Korea's aid to Africa into three periods—the Cold War era, the Post Cold War era, and the period since the mid-2000s—, this presentation examines how the transformation of South Korea’s national status within the international system has affected and changed its relations with African countries.