Korea and the ILO: A partnership for development

Since the Republic of Korea joined the ILO in 1991 it has taken an active and innovative role in supporting the ILO’s work, both in Asia and the Pacific and globally.

In 2003 Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the ILO to formalize their partnership for development. A year later the Government of Korea began providing funding to support the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme.

The ILO/Korea Partnership Programme, under the guidance of the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, works in close collaboration with specialists in ILO offices throughout the region. The ILO/Korea’s areas of work are closely tied with the Korean Partner Institutions to extend knowledge and technical expertise, providing training programmes and institutional network in the project implementation.

By focusing resources and expertise on those countries most in need the Programme aims to maximize its contribution to the realization of the Decent Work in Asia-Pacific. At the same time, the Programme also supports ILO’s global efforts in conducting wage research, promoting decent job, economic growth, and occupational safety and health (OSH), as well as building international network for sharing knowledge and information on OSH and employment policies.

Based on the recommendations from the independent evaluation and programme assessment carried out in 2013 and 2015 respectively, the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme has emphasized its programme strategies to a more focused and long term support to address countries’ priorities in the areas of skills development (skills recognition), strengthening social protection and promotion of OSH through the three-year project strategy to enhance efficiency and achieve more profound impact of the programme.

The three-year framework for the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme is developed in order to provide the better implementation for project activities and sustainability. The series of discussion were conducted among the government and ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) together with the ILO Headquarters in Geneva to ensure the effective outcomes for each countries involved in the projects.