President Lee Myung-bak hosted a reception Monday for volunteer workers carrying out aid projects overseas, a mission that he believes symbolizes South Korea's rise to becoming a donor nation.
Foreign diplomats stationed in Seoul were also invited to the reception to commend World Friends Korea (WFK), a government aid program established after combining a total of seven government-run or privately run programs to dispatch aid workers overseas.
About 700 people attended the reception at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.
"President Lee has emphasized many times that we are a nation that does not forget the help from the international community and that our country will be mentioned as the first exemplary case in global donation history," presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung said.
After viewing a video of aid workers, Lee said he was pleased that they are carrying out country-specific services with humility.
In 2009, South Korea's government unified the separate volunteer programs previously operated by three different ministries into the WFK to enhance the effectiveness of the overseas volunteer programs. With another two volunteer programs joining in 2010, the WFK is now a single brand name for seven different programs.
The government plans to dispatch more than 20,000 WFK volunteers from 2009 to 2013.