Africa’s massive population, which is also the youngest in the world, makes the continent a prime target for South Korea to direct its famous export-oriented energies. And President Yoon Suk-yeol deserves credit for showing interest in Africa relatively early in his term. 

Recent developments in the ROK’s relationship with Ghana, for example, show that if South Korea is sincerely interested in maintaining a long-term presence in the region and benefiting from the potential economic growth on the continent, it must first look at Africa’s economic potential in a more comprehensive manner. 

The ROK must also devise a strategy that moves away from a strategy that is so heavily export-oriented and focused on commodity imports. But doing so will require corrections to common misperceptions about the continent as a whole within South Korea.

RELATIONS WITH GHANA

When Ghanaian trade minister Alan John Kyerematen visited Seoul in Dec. 2022, he noted the massive benefits Ghana received from its electronic customs clearance system based on South Korea’s UNI-PASS. This system computerizes and automates customs and clearance procedures. 

Ghana began to implement its UNI-PASS system in 2020, which helped it to overcome the decrease in international trade volume that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ROK signaled high hopes for its relations with Ghana by dispatching Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to visit Accra, making him the highest-level South Korean official to visit Ghana in 45 years. Given that the South Korean government regards Ghana as an economic hub in West Africa, Seoul hopes bilateral cooperation in fields such as nuclear energy can boost the ROK’s economic standing in this region.

However, South Korea is still unable to look past the economic model of exporting finished goods while importing natural resources.

Korea Customs Service data reveals several trends in South Korea’s trade with African countries: a decadeslong trade surplus for the ROK side, a notable discrepancy between the narrowing gap in terms of the dollar value of imports and exports and a consistently large gap in the quantities of imports versus exports.

TRADITIONAL OUTREACH

The average dollar value of South Korea’s exports to Africa has increased over time. When the Roh Moo-hyun administration shifted South Korea’s economic strategy from a mercantilist stance to an export-oriented position and made special efforts to strengthen the ROK’s relations with Africa, South Korea’s average annual exports to Africa jumped from $3 billion to $8 billion.

Under the subsequent Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, the value of exports to Africa generally remained above average. Under Moon Jae-in, whose administration was relatively slow to implement a serious Africa policy compared with his predecessors and successor, the dollar value of exports to Africa largely remained below average, albeit not to a statistically significant degree. 

Source: Korea Customs Service

Although the dollar value of South Korean exports to Africa has consistently exceeded the dollar value of its imports from the continent, the gap between the dollar value of exports to and imports from Africa has generally been narrowing.

However, this narrowing dollar gap conceals the discrepancy in the actual quantity of exports versus imports. One potential explanation is that a significant portion of South Korea’s imports from Africa, as evidenced by imports from South Africa, Nigeria and Congo, are natural resources. 

While commodity exporters in Africa have benefitted from rising prices, a relationship based on exporting finished goods and importing raw materials is not sustainable in the long term. Further, it does not address Africa’s need for more high-tech investment or its need to move away from its reliance on commodities exports. 

Other powerful economic actors have already spent years exporting finished goods and importing natural resources from African countries. Suppose South Korea is sincerely interested in providing African countries with a value-added alternative while looking to benefit from the potential for economic growth on the continent. In that case, the ROK must devise a strategy that moves away from old strategies.  

Source: Korea Customs Service

NEED FOR INNOVATION

A fundamental shift in the ROK’s economic strategy toward Africa will depend on changes made at the policy-making level and on a wide-ranging shift in perceptions of Africa among potential investors and even the public.

To their credit, public figures such as SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won have recently argued that South Korean businesses need to start considering the African market more. However, while such remarks might prompt some consideration over the prospects of greater engagement with Africa, a pervasive misunderstanding of the continent in South Korean society remains.  

From a popular perspective, as Cho Wonbin, a professor of comparative politics at Sungkyunkwan University, argued following the Ghana-Korea match during the 2022 World Cup, the people of Ghana and Korea grew closer during the match, citing developments such as Ghanaian fans’ reaction to South Korea’s performance. 

As such, he urges Koreans to start paying more attention to Africa and seek a deeper understanding of the continent beyond stereotypes and misconceptions. 

Likewise, a report from the Korea Press Foundation notes several shortcomings in ROK media coverage of Africa, which lacks on-the-ground sources for coverage and tends to focus heavily on issues such as political violence and strategic competition between China and the U.S. over natural resources. 

Distorted narratives regarding Africa may not only deter potential investors but may also breed skepticism among the South Korean public. 

As Kyerematen’s remarks in Seoul demonstrate, the ROK has already proven its ability to utilize its own advanced economic prowess to help its African partners in an innovative way. As long as the ROK can keep up such momentum in its approach toward its African partners, there is much mutual benefit to be had for both sides of the equation.