The OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts peer reviews of individual members once every five to six years. Reviews seek to improve the quality and effectiveness of members’ development co-operation, highlighting good practices and recommending improvements.

Fourteen years after joining the DAC in 2010, Korea is at a pivotal juncture as it rapidly scales up official development assistance (ODA) and assumes more global responsibility. The 2020 revision of the Framework Act signals a more coherent, cross-government approach to implement a larger budget. There is potential to bring greater coherence between domestic and international policies supported by legislation on sustainable development. This peer review provides a set of recommendations for Korea to strengthen strategic partnerships and dialogue with partners, and use the cross-government capacity review and evaluations to prioritise larger ODA volumes to implementers. It recommends that Korea increase the number of qualified staff working in development across government, delegate more authority to partner country offices, and increase its risk appetite to expand private sector operations.