President Roh Moo-hyun left Korea yesterday for a tour of three African nations: Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria. This is the first trip to Africa in almost a quarter-century, the last one being President Chun Doo-hwan’s visit to Nigeria, Gabon, Senegal and Kenya in 1982. It’s a fact that up till now, Korea’s diplomacy has attached too much importance to just a few Great Powers like the United States, China and Japan. In so doing, Korea has been criticized that it is indifferent to the problems of the world’s poor, like Africa, despite having grown into a global Top 10 economic power.
It’s been a long time since Africa’s poor has become a pressing agenda of the global village. We hope that this tour becomes an opportunity for Korea to actualize its active participation in this issue. Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) last year was no more than about US$400 million. Our per-capita assistance was about one-tenth that of Portugal, a nation with a similar income level as Korea, and 95 percent of that went to the Asian region. During this trip, President Roh must present our government’s concrete plans concerning the African poverty issue, including an expansion of ODA. The United States, China and Japan are conducting omnidirectional diplomacy in Africa, using tremendous aid outlays as a weapon.
During this tour, the president will visit three influential nations in the region: Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer; Egypt, a leader in the Arab world; and Algeria, an oil producer that is also Africa’s largest nation in terms of area. This shows that Korea’s Africa diplomacy will live or die based on the results of President Roh’s trip. We hope the president doesn’t overly stick to short term goals like broadening the base of support for Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon’s campaign for UN general-secretary, but instead approaches things from a long-term perspective of broadening Korea’s diplomatic base.
The Hankyoreh, 7 March 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Africa Trip Should Mark Turning Point in Foreign Aid |
