Korea's International Contributions

How much does Korea give to the international community?

UN regular-budget assessed contributions are only part of what Korea gives the international community. Government-run Official Development Assistance (ODA), UN peacekeeping assessments, and donations citizens send voluntarily all flow alongside them. The figures below are all taken directly from government announcements and each organization's own disclosures.

How much does Korea give to the international community?

Unit: KRW · as originally disclosed

Government ODA budget2025 confirmed government budgetKRW 6.50 trillion

World Vision KoreaFY2025 (62nd fiscal year)KRW 3,866 hundred million

Good Neighbors InternationalFY2025 (cash-basis settlement)KRW 2,995 hundred million

UNICEF Korea CommitteeFY2025KRW 1,729 hundred million

Save the Children KoreaFY2025 settlement (overseas donations)KRW 375 hundred million

Government ODA budget (2025)

KRW 6.50 trillion

Combined revenue of 4 public-giving organizations

KRW 8,965 hundred million

If you add the two together

KRW 7.40 trillion

Bar length simply compares each organization's own disclosed annual total. The government ODA figure is a budget allocation; the NGO figures are settled total revenue (for Save the Children, the disclosed overseas-programme spending), so the accounting basis and scope differ. The sum on the far right is a new figure not found in any original source — a reference arithmetic total only — and this site does not present it as Korea's confirmed contribution. Judging the scale is left to world citizens.

AI Secretary-General's Advisor — Live Briefing

A briefing generated only from the original figures on this page. It does not add figures measured on different bases, and judgement is left to citizens.

The adviser is reading the source documents…

1. Government Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Total ODA, 2024 (OECD DAC preliminary): US$3.94 billion
ODA budget, 2025 (confirmed government budget): KRW 6.50 trillion
ODA / GNI: 0.21%

These two figures do not measure the same thing. US$3.943 billion is the OECD DAC 2024 actual result (grant-equivalent basis), while KRW 6.501 trillion is the 2025 government budget allocation. Because the fiscal year and calculation method differ, they cannot be compared directly and are shown side by side. The 2024 average exchange rate applied for the USD conversion is KRW 1,363.53/USD.

Category	2023	2024	Share
Bilateral aid	2,325	3,186	80.8%
— Grants	—	2,224	—
— Loans (concessional)	—	962	—
Multilateral aid (UN and other agencies)	835	757	19.2%
Total	3,160	3,943	100%

Unit: US$ millions. Figures exactly as sourced.

MOFA press release, "Korea's 2024 Official Development Assistance (ODA): US$3.94 billion" (2025-04-17)

Based on OECD DAC preliminary 2024 statistics released 16 April 2025. Total ODA US$3.943 billion, bilateral US$3.186 billion (80.8%), multilateral US$0.757 billion (19.2%), ODA/GNI 0.21%. The 2024 average exchange rate applied for USD conversion, KRW 1,363.53/USD, is stated in the same release.

https://www.mofa.go.kr/www/brd/m_4080/view.do?seq=376021

Office for Government Policy Coordination press release, "Early achievement of the ODA scale-up target" · 52nd Committee for International Development Cooperation (2025-02-20)

2025 Comprehensive Implementation Plan for International Development Cooperation. Total ODA budget KRW 6.501 trillion (+3.8% year on year), 1,928 projects across 41 agencies. Humanitarian assistance 16.6%, transport 14.2%, public administration 7.7%.

https://www.opm.go.kr/opm/news/press-release.do?articleNo=158538&attachNo=146448&mode=download

2. UN Assessment Rate

Within multilateral aid, the share Korea pays to the UN is set by the assessment scale the General Assembly adopts. Korea's rate under the 2025-2027 scale is shown below.

Regular budget 2025: 2.574%
Regular budget 2026: 2.349%
Peacekeeping 2025: 2.574%
Peacekeeping 2026-2027: 2.349%

For 2026, the Republic of Korea's net regular-budget assessment is US$75,202,401, and dividing this figure by population is the starting point for the tax receipt calculation.

UN Committee on Contributions · Scale of Assessments for the Regular Budget 1946-2027

Korea's regular-budget assessment rate is 2.574% for 2025 and 2.349% for 2026.

https://www.un.org/en/ga/contributions/Scale%20of%20Assessments%20for%20RB%201946-2027.pdf

UN A/79/318/Add.1 · Scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of United Nations peacekeeping operations (2024-12-31)

Korea's peacekeeping (PKO) assessment rate is 2.5740% for 2025 and 2.3490% for 2026-2027.

https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/scale_of_assessments_for_the_apportionment_of_the_expenses_of_un_peacekeeping_operations_1_january_2025_to_31_december_2027.pdf

3. Donations Citizens Send Directly

Outside the government budget, these are funds citizens voluntarily send to UN national committees and international NGOs. Only the four organizations below have figures confirmed directly from their original disclosures. Simply adding up these four organizations' total revenue already comes to KRW 8,965 hundred million.

UNICEF Korea Committee

KRW 1,729 hundred million

FY2025 · Donation revenue KRW 1,524 hundred million · Support for developing countries (71.6% of total expenditure) KRW 1,238 hundred million

Donation revenueKRW 152,408,179,964
Support from UNICEF headquarters (revenue)KRW 16,918,050,180
Support for developing countries (expenditure)KRW 123,780,399,034
Remittance to UNICEF headquarters (expenditure)KRW 16,832,414,687

UNICEF Korea Committee, "Use of Funds" — public-benefit corporation financial disclosure, National Tax Service

Total revenue KRW 172.889 billion, donation revenue KRW 152.4 billion (88.2%), support for developing countries KRW 123.780 billion.

https://www.unicef.or.kr/about-us/clear/fund/unicef-kr/

World Vision Korea

KRW 3,866 hundred million

FY2025 (62nd fiscal year) · Donation revenue KRW 2,443 hundred million · Overseas programme costs (62.8% of total expenditure) KRW 2,428 hundred million

Programme donations (domestic / North Korea / overseas / advocacy) 25.9%KRW 100,125,627,459
Overseas child sponsorship (recurring) 24.3%KRW 93,940,260,511
Gifts-in-kind (GIK) 24.1%KRW 93,167,089,643
Emergency relief donations 8.3%KRW 32,086,591,039
2025 programme reserve 6.0%KRW 23,195,126,052
Government subsidies 4.2%KRW 16,236,588,237
Domestic child sponsorship (recurring) 4.2%KRW 16,236,588,237
Other revenue 2.5%KRW 9,664,635,855
Gift donations 0.5%KRW 1,932,927,171

World Vision Korea, "2025 Financial Report" (62nd fiscal year)

Total revenue and expenditure for fiscal year 2025 (62nd term): KRW 386.585 billion. Line-item amounts are calculated as the disclosed grand total × each item's share. Programme costs 89.0%, fundraising costs 8.6%, general administration 2.1%, income-generating business 0.3%. Overseas programme costs are 62.8% of total expenditure.

https://www.worldvision.or.kr/worldVisionIntro/managementFinance

Good Neighbors International

KRW 2,995 hundred million

FY2025 (cash-basis settlement) · Donation revenue KRW 2,623 hundred million · Overseas programmes subtotal (69.7% of total expenditure) KRW 2,087 hundred million

Membership donations 47.9%KRW 143,332,862,251
Donations & goods 39.7%KRW 118,926,993,800
Reserve for next year's programmes 9.1%KRW 27,150,573,232
Subsidies (local governments, KOICA, etc.) 2.5%KRW 7,633,988,765
Other revenue 0.8%KRW 2,503,523,668
Overseas programme expenditure subtotalKRW 208,682,099,037
Domestic programme expenditure subtotalKRW 51,320,426,960
North Korea programme expenditureKRW 704,750,000

Good Neighbors, "2025 Good Change Report" (annual report) — Good Neighbors International settlement

Total revenue and expenditure: KRW 299.548 billion each. Overseas programmes subtotal KRW 208.682 billion, domestic programmes subtotal KRW 51.320 billion, North Korea programmes KRW 704.75 million. Original note: figures are on a cash (budgetary) basis and differ from the audited financial statements. Social Welfare Foundation Good Neighbors (domestic child welfare, revenue KRW 148.035 billion) is a separate legal entity and is not combined here.

https://www.goodneighbors.kr/story/archive/1/annualreport.gn

Save the Children Korea

KRW 375 hundred million

FY2025 settlement (overseas programme donation expenditure) · Donation revenue KRW 375 hundred million

Humanitarian assistance 37%KRW 13,766,424,876
Health, nutrition & livelihoods 22%KRW 8,284,339,843
Education & child protection 21%KRW 8,035,540,819
Overseas village sponsorship 11%KRW 4,302,380,924
Climate crisis response 8%KRW 3,118,156,017

Save the Children, "2025 Overseas Programme Results Report"

The disclosed 2025 overseas-programme donation expenditure total is KRW 37.507 billion, per the original report. Total revenue/expenditure including domestic programmes is not in this report and is not shown. Per the original: 80% of all donations in fiscal year 2025 went to child programme costs, 20% to fundraising and general administration.

https://m.sc.or.kr/news/reportView.do?NO=73466