hankyoreh

joining the OECD and Development Assistance Committee. (Yonhap News file photo)

“The advanced free countries that are rushing to build welfare states certainly are seeing a lot of results already. But as a country faced with the hardship of having to put so many resources into national defense for the struggle against communism, we have been unable to avoid some shortcomings in developing this area, and we have needed the help of allies to overcome this hurdle. The proof that is all of you, the ones who are helping the people of South Korea in areas such as society, public health, education, and religion.”

These words come from a 1965 message of gratitude from then Minister of Health and Social Affairs Oh Won-seon while attending a dinner party for the Korean Association of Voluntary Agencies (KAVA). Oh’s message on behalf of then President Park Chung-hee praised the foreign aid groups tending to the welfare needs of the “impoverished South Korean public.”

The 1950s and 1960s were a golden age for foreign aid group activities. It was a time when defense expenditures for the confrontation against communism meant South Koreans relied on such groups for the most basic of daily essentials. Surplus wheat and corn flour poured into the country; medicine and second-hand clothes were lavished on an impoverished public. In 1963, the administration attempted to manage the flow by enacting the Foreign Nongovernmental Aid Organizations Act (FNAOA). The legislation afforded tax benefits to items introduced by registered groups, while putting the government in charge of domestic transportation costs. The types of items and donations were discussed and decided on by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (MHSA) and the groups in question.

“When the FNAOA came out, we were able to operate under legal protections,” recalled Korea Helpage emeritus chairman Cho Ki-dong, who chaired KAVA between 1974 and 1975.

Now that law, a living symbol of an impoverished South Korea’s postwar dependence on foreign aid, is poised to disappear into history 52 years after its enactment. KAVA’s aid item payments were so much larger than the MHSA Affairs budget that the agency was once called the “second MHSA.” But in the past five years, not a single item has been brought into the country by an aid group. The number of registered foreign aid groups has dwindled from 121 to 38. Fourteen of them can no longer be reached.

It was in the 1970s that the aid groups’ function and prestige began to diminish. The economy had grown enough that South Korea could take care of its own daily essentials. There was also a policy angle: aid items were seen as potentially disruptive to the development of domestic industry.

“From the early ’70s onward, we couldn’t bring in any more powdered milk because the domestic dairy producers objected,” explained Cho.

“I also remember the MHSA designating the high heels and nylon stockings in the second-hand clothes from overseas as ‘luxury items’ and ordering selective importation,” he added.

It was around this point that the foreign aid groups began turning their attention to countries worse off than South Korea; some pulled out completely. In 1995, KAVA was dissolved. In 2010, South Korea joined the OECD’s Development Co-operation Directorate (DAC) - the so-called “aid donors’ club.” It is considered the only countries since the Second World War to successfully go from aid recipient to donor.

On Jan. 29 of this year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which oversees the FNAOA, announced plans to abolish it.

“In light of South Korea’s standing in the international community as a provider of aid, the decision was made that the law has outlived its prescription,” the ministry said.

Choi Ho-yong, deputy director of the ministry’s social service resource division, indicated that other factors were also at play.

“Part of the impetus for deciding to abolish the law had to do with an incident a few years ago where a group whose registration had been revoked cause problems borrowing money from different sources by claiming it was a corporation set up according to the law,” Choi explained.

By Park Su-ji, staff reporter

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