To Kattie

2. Describe your career vision and why you have chosen it as your vision. (Less than 400 words)

What I ultimately want to do is contributing to the economic development of poor countries as a development consultant, using experiences of Korea’s economic development. My vision is based on the fact that sharing Korea’s development experience is one of the most effective ways to realize my dream of helping the poor.

Korea has a unique experience of economic development. In spite of the poor initial conditions which are similar to developing countries’ conditions today ; colonial experience, civil war, division of the country and lack of resources, Korea has achieved phenomenal economic development in one generation. Therefore, sharing Korea’s experiences would be very useful to the developing countries in many ways.

I got to know about this idea in the KSP Dissemination Seminar organized by KDI this summer. The purpose of the seminar is to share the research outcomes and main policy points of the 2009 KSP. Several projects in 7 countries were introduced briefly and the professors commented on them. In this seminar, I thought that would be what I have been looking for because it corresponds exactly with my concern and it is a historical task of Korea, which is the one and only country has graduated from an aid receiver to a donor.

I was convinced again when I took an ‘UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION’ class in Korea University. Joo Hyung-hwan, director general of the international economic affairs bureau at the Finance Ministry, talked about the directions of Korea’s ODA in the class. According to his lecture, Korea is providing comprehensive and systematic supports, which include policy consultations (KSP), main projects (EDCF) and technical advice (Grant). The quantity of Korea’s ODA is increasing as well as the quality. The government decided to expand the aid budget and recipients in order to meet growing demand for the Korea’s effective ODA. In response to this, there will be a huge demand for experts such as development consultants and I want to be one of them.