Korea is ready to be a Good Friend for Africa

By Kang Seokhee

Diversifying Partners and Strengthening Partnership

• When I was young, my mother used to tell me, “You should make good friends to be successful in life.” As we all know, mothers are always right. It is said that good friends are better than family or any asset in one’s life. Interestingly, this general principle on human relationship also applies to international relations.
• In order to make as many good friends as possible in the international community, it is necessary to diversify partners beyond the existing friendly countries. If a country relies only on few partners, although it may feel comfortable for the time being, it may very well miss opportunities to expand its diplomatic horizons. On the other hand, if a country builds friendship with diverse partners, its national interests can be promoted in an innovative way. Likewise, Korea and Africa share common interests in diversifying partners and strengthening partnership.
• Then, who is Korea? What kind of country is it?

The Korean Development Model

• The Republic of Korea (South Korea) is a dynamic country in Northeast Asia with the population of 50 million. It is among the top ten in the world in terms of GDP and trade volume. Moreover, recently, Korean culture including K-pop icon BTS and a hit drama Squid Game gained global popularity, adding to the Korean Wave, or Hallyu.
• Sixty years ago, however, immediately after the three-year long Korean War devastated the Korean Peninsula, South Korea was a country wholly different from what it is now it was one of the poorest countries in the world. In the early 1960, its GNI per capita was 110 dollars, less than that of a country in western Africa whose GNI per capita was 190 dollars. Now, the GNI per capita of South Korea is 35,000 dollars while that of the same country in western Africa is 2,300 dollars.
• You may be surprised, thinking how is that possible? It may not be easy to comprehend the success story of Korea, and it may not serve as a model for all countries. Nevertheless, it deserves attention as Korea is the only country in which an aid-dependent recipient became a donor nation. Above of all, much akin to many countries in Africa, Korea experienced colonization, civil war and poverty, all of which it overcame amid harsh realities of international system just within few decades.

Korea and Africa are Already Friends

• Indeed, Korea and Africa are already friends. They have a useful consultation mechanism called the Korea-Africa Forum. The Forum takes place every three to five years. Since the first forum in 2006, significant progress was made in development cooperation. Korea’s aid to Africa increased ten times from 50 million dollars in 2006 to more than 500 million dollars in 2021. In addition, Korea made financial contribution to the various activities of the African Union; for example, a level-2 mobile hospital was deployed in Mali and armored vehicles were provided for the AU Mission in Somalia.
• While we have made progress in development cooperation over the last 16 years, however, progress in private sector cooperation such as trade has not been as impressive. We need to take stock of what we have achieved so far and reconsider future directions of the Korea-Africa partnership.

The 5th Korea-Africa Forum in Seoul

• Ministers of Korea and Africa convened together in Seoul, Korea on March 3rd to attend the 5th Korea-Africa Forum. Chung Eui-young, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, Aissata Tall Sall, Chairperson of the AU Executive Council (Foreign Minister of Senegal) and delegations of Africa agreed to upgrade the current development-oriented partnership to a more comprehensive, sustainable and future-oriented partnership.
• To this end, they confirmed to share the following four strategic goals: (1) fight against COVID19 (2) further expand and deepen development cooperation (3) boost trade and investment, and (4) enhance cooperation for peace and security.

Looking to the Future of Korea and Africa

• Indeed, the current Korea-Africa partnership based on development cooperation is not enough, considering their potential. Accordingly, to ensure a more solid and sustainable partnership, Korea and Africa need to identify mutually beneficial areas and work together toward common goals. Promoting business, supporting peace and taking joint actions on global issues are essential elements in that regard.
• Trade between Korea and Africa has remained about 20 billion dollars over the last two decades. As Korea’s annual trade volume is 1.2 trillion dollars now, there is substantial potential to boost trade and investment between Korea and Africa. Moreover, considering the fact that Korea’s economic growth is basically driven by exports, business with Korea is likely to help accelerate overall development process of Africa.
• Supporting peace activities or peace process is another area where Korea and Africa can benefit each other. Korea can make financial or personnel contribution to the AU or UN PKO Missions while Africa can provide political support for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. For the success of Korea lies not just in achieving economic growth but also in maintaining peace as it has for the last 70 years since the Korean War.
• Korea and Africa can also join the international community in responding to global issues. In particular, in order to effectively respond to the global crises such as COVID19 or climate change, joint actions must be taken. With such collaboration, Korea and Africa can feel proud of their partnership as it will demonstrate that they can work together for the common good of the international community as well as for themselves.

Korea is ready to be a Good Friend for Africa

• With the Korea-Africa Forum, Korea and Africa have a good consultation platform to further strengthen the current partnership. The commitments made at the recent forum in Seoul showed that they would become good partners to each other in business as well as in development cooperation. Now, it is time to implement the commitments.
• Korea is ready to be a sincere friend for Africa a warm development partner, a reliable business partner, a defender of peace, and a colleague in the fight against global crises.
  Is Africa ready?

Kang Seokhee is Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Ethiopia