Korea Ranks Last in Helping Poor Countries: Survey

Korea is the least generous in helping poor countries among the world’s 22 most wealthy nations, a report released yesterday said.

The Washington-based Center for Global Development ranked Korea last in the 2008 Commitment to Development Index, Bloomberg said.

Korea is running a small number of overseas aid programs, has higher export barriers to less development countries, and allows a small number of unskilled workers from poor countries, the think tank said.

Japan ranked second to last despite having the world’s second-largest economy. The report said its assistance fails to match its economic size and Tokyo imposes excessive restrictions on immigration and imports.

The United States finished 17th due to its involvement in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

David Roodman, senior fellow at the center, said the U.S. foreign aid system is in tatters and outdated and needs a sweeping overhaul.

The center’s annual index gauges each country’s contribution to poor countries based on seven areas of government action: foreign aid, trade, immigration, technology, investment policy, the environment and national security.

The Netherlands was the top-ranked nation in the survey for the fourth straight year, followed by Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Ireland.

spear@donga.com