Only shallow? Public support for development cooperation in South Korea

Abstract

This article examines the link between public support for and public knowledge about development cooperation in South Korea. Challenging previous research on established donor countries, we find that in Korea, there is a high level of public support for development cooperation but very little knowledge about it. We argue that this can be explained by three main factors. First, Korea recently transitioned from being a recipient of development aid to being a donor. Second, Korean development cooperation is conducted as a government-centred process with limited influence from civil society. Third, the dissemination of information on development cooperation is dominated by what we call “aid propaganda”, where aid is advertised primarily as a means of improving Korea’s national prestige, while the situation in the recipient countries of the Global South is largely ignored. © 2020 Ewha Womans University Graduate School of International Studies. All rights reserved.