Korea

Enhancing Korea’s Role as a Global Development Partner

Since 2010, The Asia Foundation and the Korea Development Institute (KDI) have collaborated to share knowledge among emerging and traditional development actors. An outgrowth of the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in 2011, facilitated by the Foundation and KDI, the Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation (AADC) dialogue series convenes “nontraditional” Asian donor countries, traditional development partners, and aid recipients to critique conventional aid architectures and share perspectives on emerging Asian approaches, a process that has grown more vigorous as the development discourse is increasingly influenced by Asian trends. In 2016, AADC expanded the discussion to include the vital development role of Asian civil society, and the evolving, untapped opportunities of public-private partnerships and collaboration between civil society and business.

Cooperation with Korea’s Development Practitioners

With the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, The Asia Foundation sponsors training programs for government aid workers, NGO leaders, and postgraduate students of international development studies. Fellowship programs introduce Korean development specialists to issues and strategies in developing countries, and bring international specialists to study Korea’s economic development experience, work on projects, and conduct research. The Foundation and the KDI School also hold an annual public conference on development cooperation.

In 2016, a delegation of 11 development specialists visited Sri Lanka for the study tour “International Development Cooperation for Balanced Regional Development.” A 12-member delegation visited Myanmar for “International Development Cooperation in Countries in Political, Economic, and Social Transition.” And the Korea office brought 15 participants from Myanmar to Korea, including first-term members of the Myanmar parliament, parliamentary secretariat staff, and NGO representatives, to study Korea’s parliamentary development and practices.

Partnering with Korea in Developing Asia

The Asia Foundation works closely on regional development with the official Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). In 2012, the Foundation and KOICA launched a three-year collaboration on local economic governance in four cities in eastern Sri Lanka hard hit by civil war and natural disasters. The program focused on rehabilitating infrastructure to encourage economic growth, including improving tourist facilities, upgrading solid waste management, and building a new parking garage. A 2015 KOICA grant allowed the construction of Mongolia’s first women’s business center and incubator, a threeway collaboration between The Asia Foundation, KOICA, and the City of Ulaanbaatar.

Promoting Regional Cooperation

The Asia Foundation supports Korea’s efforts to address Northeast Asian security challenges while maintaining its alliance with the United States. The Foundation supports selective engagement with North Korea, including constructive dialogue and concrete cooperation on projects to expose North Koreans to professionals and best practices in the U.S. and Asia. For 20 years, as diplomatic circumstances have permitted, the Foundation has brought North Korean delegations to the United States and facilitated regional programs for North Koreans in the fields of international law and economics, agricultural science, and the teaching of English.

In South Korea, the Foundation provides educational opportunities for young people of North Korean origin. It supported 10 North Korean students in the English-language program of the British Council, and administers a program funded by the Coalition for North Korean Women’s Rights to help North Korean women in South Korea find employment and gain vocational, entrepreneurial, and leadership training.  

Since 1996, The Asia Foundation’s Books for Asia program has donated more than 170,000 books and publications to North Korean institutions, including the national library of North Korea, the Grand People’s Study House, and various university libraries, in the areas of science, technology, medicine, economics, English, art, history, international relations, and law. Major donors include McGraw Hill, Lynne Rienner, and W.W. Norton & Company

Fellowship and Scholarship Programs

The Asia Foundation has long supported a modest program of fellowships and scholarships to increase U.S.-Korean understanding. Since 1976, in partnership with the Henry Luce Foundation, the Korea Office has helped place more than 20 young Americans as Luce Scholars at various Korean institutions of government, academia, and civil society. Every two years, the Foundation sponsors a promising Korean journalist for a yearlong Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, considered one of the most prestigious fellowships in Korea. Since 1963, a total of 26 Korean journalists from leading newspapers and broadcasters have been Nieman Fellows.

Friends of The Asia Foundation Korea

The Friends of The Asia Foundation Korea (FOTAF) is a nonprofit organization created in 2004. FOTAF’s directors are some of Korea’s most distinguished statesmen and business people, including former prime minister Lee Hong-koo, former foreign minister Han Sung-joo, and former chair of the JoongAng Media Network Hong Seokhyun. FOTAF offers advisory and financial support, particularly focusing on Korea’s international relations, its role in regional development, and programs that support constructive engagement with North Korea. Friends of The Asia Foundation Korea also provides educational opportunities in developing Asia. Since 2009, FOTAF has provided scholarships for 60 female students annually in the Mekong Delta region, one of Vietnam’s most vulnerable areas for trafficking of women.