South Korea

2012 Results



Aid

Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI measures gross aid as a share of GDP adjusted for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes “tied” aid that makes recipients spend aid only on donor goods and services, rewards aid to poor but relatively well-governed recipients, and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects.


South Korea’s aid performance

  • Score: 1.0
  • Rank: 24

Weaknesses

  • Very low net aid volume as a share of the economy (0.11%; rank: 24)
  • Contributes to project proliferation: small average project size (rank: 27)
  • Large share of tied or partially tied aid (64%; rank: 23)
  • Large share of aid to less poor and worse-governed recipients (selectivity rank: 22)

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries.


South Korea’s trade performance

  • Score: -1.3
  • Rank: 27

Strengths

  • Low agricultural subsidies (equivalent to a tariff worth 2.9% of the value of imports; rank: 2)

Weaknesses

  • High tariffs on non-agricultural commodities (11.2% of the value of imports; rank: 27)
  • High barriers against corn (389.8% of the value of imports; rank: 27)
  • High barriers against rice (315.0% of the value of imports; rank: 26)

Investment

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy investment in developing countries.


South Korea’s investment performance

  • Score: 5.6
  • Rank: 9

Strengths

  • Employs tax credit arrangements to prevent double taxation of corporate profits earned abroad
  • Does not impose restrictions on pension fund investments in emerging markets and provides official support for outflows of portfolio investment

Weaknesses

  • Political risk insurance agency does not screen projects for social impacts
  • Does not participate in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)

Migration

The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. This increases the flow of money sent home by migrants abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return home.


South Korea’s migration performance

  • Score: 1.3
  • Rank: 24

Strengths

  • Large share of foreign students from developing countries (95%; rank: 2)
  • Tuition for foreign students the same as for nationals

Weaknesses

  • Small number of immigrants from developing countries entering South Korea (rank by share of population: 25)
  • Bears small share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises (rank: 27)
  • Decline during the 1990s in the number of unskilled immigrants from developing countries living in S. Korea (rank by share of population: 24)

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources, and poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries and biodiversity.


South Korea’s environment performance

  • Score: 4.2
  • Rank: 24

Strengths

  • High gas taxes ($1.19 per liter; rank: 8)

Weaknesses

  • High tropical wood imports ($16.17 per person; rank: 25)
  • High fishing subsidies ($3.40 per person; rank: 24)
  • High greenhouse gas emissions per capita (14.5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 23)
  • Poor compliance with reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity (rank: 22)

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, rewards military protection of global sea lanes, and penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.


South Korea’s security performance

  • Score: 1.4
  • Rank: 26

Weaknesses

  • Small financial and personnel contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade (rank by share of GDP: 27)
  • Has not ratified the Ottawa Treaty to ban anti-personnel landmines or the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM)
  • Fails to report arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments

Technology

Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI captures this by measuring government support for R&D and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.


South Korea’s technology performance

  • Score: 7.0
  • Rank: 2

Strengths

  • High government expenditure on R&D (rank by share of GDP: 2)
  • Large tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 7)
  • Revokes unused patents
  • Provides patent exceptions for research purposes

Weaknesses

  • Large share of government R&D expenditure on defense (rank by share of GDP: 25)
  • Allows patents on software programs
  • Imposes strict limitations on anti-circumvention technologies that can defeat encryption of copyrighted digital materials