Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) of South Koreas North Korean Cooperation Policy: Focusing on North Korean Development Cooperation and Economic Cooperation Policy

Abstract

As the world economy is becoming more interdependent, countries become more prone to influences from domestic as well as foreign policies of other states. The problem of interdependency is that, development interests of developing countries are easily undermined by developed countries regardless of whether they intended or not. Therefore, demands for coordination of policies with global development goals have been raised constantly. Out of this context, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has proposed a concept of policy coherence for development (PCD). The general objective of PCD is to enhance coherence between development policies and other policies with regards to the development objectives. The importance of PCD has been continuously emphasized by the OECD, and OECD DAC member countries progress in PCD is examined through peer reviews. South Koreas PCD in development policies has also been reviewed in its 2012 DAC peer review, and was given recommendations for improvement. However, since South Koreas North Korean aid policies are not classified as ODA, PCD is a relatively new concept in its North Korean policies. Given the fact that South Korea has been one of the largest donors and trade partners of North Korea in the past two decades, policy coherence and considerations for North Koreas development objectives are necessary. In aid of that, this thesis evaluated the PCD of ROKs North Korean development policies, with a focus on the policy coherence between aid and non-aid policies. Through the research, it was concluded that despite the existence of policy coherence in North Korean policies, South Korea lacks concerns for DPRKs development objectives. In other words, South Koreas policies towards North Korea do not fulfil the standards of policy coherence for development, and improvements are needed, particularly in terms of promoting development interests of its neighbour in the North.