South Korea extended $1.74 billion on overseas development aid (ODA) in 2013, becoming the world’s 16th largest donor among 28 member countries of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee.

The country’s fund to assist developing countries last year jumped 9.2 percent from the previous year of $1.59 billion, the data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed.

The 2013 amount accounted for some 0.13 percent of the country’s gross national income (GNI).

By region, the biggest portion of the fund, some 41.9 percent was funneled to Asia, followed by 16 percent to Africa and 5.7 percent to Latin American countries.

By Um Yoon-sun (uys@heraldcorp.com)