1. An event to release the “Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Peer Review* 2018” report on the Republic of Korea took place at the Foreign Ministry on February 7, with officials from the ROK government and the OECD, as well as civil society representatives and academics, in attendance.

* The OECD DAC conducts peer reviews of DAC members every year to increase the effectiveness of ODA policies and improve related institutions through peer reviews of ODA policies and the implementation of ODA programs.

o The OECD DAC finalized its peer review report on the ROK in the final round of its peer review meeting, held in Paris in December last year.

- The DAC made a positive assessment* of the ROK government’s efforts to improve its development cooperation policies and overall implementation of ODA programs since the DAC’s first peer review of the ROK in 2012, and presented twelve recommendations** to improve the ROK’s ODA system.

* △playing a bridging role between developed and developing countries, △contributing to providing global public goods, △carrying out education programs to foster global citizenship, as well as activities to promote it, △providing assistance effectively, considering the needs of developing countries, △faithfully implementing recommendations made in 2012, etc.

** △improving the ROK’s ODA system, △strengthening the assessment and performance management system, △increasing cooperation with civil society, etc.

2. Chair of the OECD DAC Charlotte Petri-Gornitzka, who visited the ROK to mark the release of the report, introduced the peer review report on the ROK, and asked the ROK to play a bigger role in the area of development cooperation.

o The ROK government expects the event to serve as an opportunity to raise Korean people’s awareness of ODA, and give impetus to government-wide efforts to improve the ROK’s ODA policies and implementation of ODA programs.

3. To follow up on the peer review, the ROK government will prepare plans to implement the OECD’s recommendations as soon as possible, submit them to  the Committee for International Development Cooperation (head: Prime Minister) for deliberation and finalization, and carry out the plans.

o This is expected to help the ROK’s ODA policies and systems to take a leap forward.

* unofficial translation