Multilateral engagement

A multilateral engagement (다자간 참여사업/多者間 參與事業) means an international cooperative project that more than two states and/or international organizations are engaged in conducting so as to attain the common purpose such as peace keeping, humanitarian assistance, economic rehabilitation, etc.

For instance, according to Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, the World Bank Group is ready to provide North Korea with aid in the event of a political breakthrough akin to that in Myanmar. President Kim said at a round-table meeting with some reporters at Washington, DC on November 22, 2013. To this end, North Korea should first become a member of the World Bank Group and ask for assistance.

Key words
multilateral engagement, eocnomic rehabilitation, preconditions, denuclearization, special trust fund, multi-donor trust fund

Towards North Korea
A typical multilateral engagement is for the North Korea’s economic rehabilitation with particular focus on the establishment of special Trust Funds. It is because North Korea’s economic recovery in the 2000s has been stagnant, the socialist regime seemingly lacking the capacity to resolve food shortages and economic problems.

Moreover, due to the recurrence of the nuclear issue and subsequent imposition of tighter sanctions against Pyongyang, not only has the scale of foreign aid for North Korea deceased sharply, but the engagement of international donors in humanitarian assistance has also been greatly reduced. Thus, a feasible institutional instrument for the amelioration of the regional instability caused by North Korea’s economic problems and nuclear standoff would be the establishment of a multilateral framework that would involve bilateral donors and international financial institutions.

Proposal of Special Trust Funds
The setting up of special Trust Funds is a possible option for resource mobilization for and aid coordination in providing development assistance to North Korea. Given the potential benefits of such a mechanism, creating multi-donor Trust Funds (MDTFs) for North Korea as denuclearization in the Korean Peninsula progresses could help strengthen relations between Pyongyang and the international donor community.

Moreover, the joint funding mechanism of the special Trust Fund would help to ease the political burden currently shouldered by South Korea and neighboring countries directly involved in providing development assistance to North Korea.

Preconditions
It might be possible to articulate the establishment of MDTFs in the early stages of denuclearization, which would facilitate the dismantling (or abandoning) of North Korea’s nuclear programs, as well as the construction of an international aid coordination mechanism. Then we may expect the potential roles that Trust Funds could play in resource mobilization and policy dialogue. There could be advisable areas of support and procedure in the operation of MDTFs for North Korea.

NK Development Assistance Group
By drawing attention to issues around the administrative structure of the MDTF, it proposes that international donors establish the ‘North Korea Development Assistance Group’ (NKDAG) as the principal special Trust Fund governing body. The NKDAG could provide a forum for policy dialogue in the coordination of development assistance to North Korea. Effective fund-raisings, and the successful implementation and management of the Trust Funds would serve as an impetus for enhancing the roles the NKDAG would have to play in the coordination of providing development assistance to North Korea and for the country’s economic recovery.

This, in turn, would help to placate the donor community in respect of the transparency and effectiveness of its funding contributions, which could attract more foreign assistnance to Trust Fund activities.