Introduction

Korea, as a country that achieved remarkable industrial growth out of a war-torn economy in the 1950s, owes much of its economic success during the past four decades to the assistance and support of the international community. Until the 1980s, Korea received development assistance worth over US$15 billion, which provided the country with strong momentum for rapid economic development. Its economy now ranks among the middle-level OECD countries, as the world's twelfth economy in terms of GDP and trade volume.

Korea has successfully transformed itself from an aid recipient to an emerging donor through rapid economic development with its outstanding economic and social performance. As a former beneficiary of development cooperation, Korea now acknowledges that its effort to extend ODA is in reciprocating what it received from the international community in the past.

Currently, most of Korea's official development assistance (ODA) is concentrated in the Asian region. In 2006, 60.5 per cent of bilateral ODA was disbursed to Asia and 24.2 per cent of bilateral grant aid was disbursed to Southeast Asia. This high level of concentration is partly due to the geographical and cultural proximity between Korea and the countries in the region. In particular, Korea has maintained close economic and diplomatic relationships with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is one of the Korea's important trade and investment partners. So, there are undoubtedly common interests and potentials for further cooperation between Korea and ASEAN.

Since the 1997 financial crisis, Korea and ASEAN have launched a number of different regional initiatives, such as ASEAN-Korea FTA and ASEAN+3, etc. In particular, Korea has participated in the global trend of RTAs by concluding an FTA with ASEAN that entered into force in June 2007. Korea is also focusing on promoting development cooperation between the relatively well-off ASEAN members and the CLMV countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam) to address a wide development gap within the region.

In addition, Korea has shared its experience of economic development with ASEAN members and made efforts to help apply its experience to the closing of the development gap among Southeast Asian countries.