South Korea

2013

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: 1.1
  • Rank: 23

Weaknesses

  • Low net aid volume as a share of the economy (0.12%; rank: 24)
  • Large share of tied or partially tied aid (49.28%; rank: 20)
  • Allows project proliferation; small average project size (rank: 25)
 

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. It also penalizes costly importation processes and restrictions against purchasing services from foreigners.


South Korea’s trade performance

  • Score: -1.2
  • Rank: 27

Strengths

  • Low agricultural subsidies (equivalent to a tariff worth -0.2% of the value of imports; rank: 2)
  • Relatively low cost to import a shipping container ($680 per container; rank: 2)
  • Few days to import a shipping container (3 days; rank: 2) 
  • Low tariffs on wheat (1.9 % of the value of imports; rank: 3)
  • Low tariffs on sugar (14.1 % of the value of imports; rank: 4)
Weaknesses
  • High tariffs on agricultural products (111.5% of the value of imports; rank: 27)
  • High tariffs on non-agricultural products (111.3 % of the value of imports; rank: 27)
  • High tariffs on rice (315.4 % of the value of imports; rank: 26)
  • High tariffs on dairy (74.9 % of the value of imports; rank: 23)
  • High tariffs on other meats (25.9 % of the value of imports; rank: 24)
 

Finance

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management and create jobs. Conversely, policies that permit financial secrecy of companies and banks can facilitate illicit activities and financial flows abroad. The CDI rewards policies that support healthy investment in developing countries and promote transparency in financial transactions at home.


South Korea’s finance performance

  • Score: 4.9
  • Rank: 17

Strengths

  • Political risk insurance agency provides wide coverage and screens potential projects for violations of human, labor and environmental rights
  • Strong support to identifying bribery and corrupt practices
  • Provides assistance to companies looking for investment opportunities in developing countries
Weaknesses
  • Weak participation and leadership in extractive industry transparency initiatives
  • Scores below average in the Financial Secrecy Index for having few regulations in place to prevent illicit financial transactions within its jurisdiction (rank: 17)
 

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.


South Korea’s migration performance

  • Score: 5.7
  • Rank: 13

Strengths

  • Large share of foreign students from developing countries (94.9%; rank: 2)
  • Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering South Korea (rank by share of population: 8)
Weaknesses
  • Bears small share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises (rank: 27)

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: 4.3
  • Rank: 22

Strengths

  • High gas taxes ($1.25 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, military protection of global sea lanes, and participation in international security treaties. It also penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.


South Korea’s security performance

  • Score: 1.3
  • Rank: 26

Weaknesses

  • Low personnel and financial contributions to UN and internationally-sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade (rank by share of GDP: 27)
  • Has not ratified the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM)
  • Fails to publish arms exports data
 

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: 6.8
  • Rank: 1

Strengths

  • Significant government support for R&D (rank: 1)
  • High government expenditure on R&D (rank by share of GDP: 2)
  • High tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 7)
  • Provides patent exceptions for research purposes
  • Revokes unused patents
Weaknesses
  • Allows patents on plant and animal varieties
  • Allows patents on software innovations
  • Pushes to extend intellectual property rights in bilateral trade treaties (“TRIPS Plus” measures) that restrict the flow of innovations to developing countries
  • Imposes strict limitations on anti-circumvention technologies that can defeat encryption of copyrighted digital materials