Donor's Motivation with COVID-19: Korean Humanitarian and Development Assistance

• In Event: Demonstrations of Reputation and Commitment in Foreign Policy

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has impacted the whole world in a very negative way. All donor countries have faced the most difficult situations, being forced to cut their budget for humanitarian and development assistance. In this experiment-like situation, we want to understand the behavior of donors. As a representative case, South Korea is examined. In this period of crisis, South Korea has provided other countries with a diagnosis kit of COVID-19 and personal protective equipment such as masks for humanitarian assistance. In addition, it has dramatically increased the support for health-related development projects. In this paper, we attempt to analyze the efforts of South Korea to support other countries to cope with COVID-19 by providing humanitarian and development assistance. By using the newly constructed data of humanitarian assistance and health-related development projects regarding COVID-19, we show that South Korea has provided this assistance because of political and economic reasons such as historical relations, existing diplomatic ties, and economic closeness with recipients rather than humanitarian reasons.

Authors

• Youngwan Kim, Sogang University

• Young Jun Cho, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

• Sang-Hwan Lee, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies