[This is How We Reported] Full Analysis of 4.85 Million Data Points... One Week Tracking of 'K-Origin' in Remote Areas of Vietnam

ODA Status Analysis [K Wonjo Tracker] ⑩
Summarizing Issues Through Data Analysis
Decision to Go to Vietnam Based on Failure Case Report

Gu Chae-eun and Jeon Jin-young, reporters, inspecting the solar power generator installed in Ban Rao Con village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam.

Has the Dream of Developed Countries Been Achieved?

Official Development Assistance (ODA) may be an unfamiliar term to readers. However, the word "aid" evokes a different story. "Are you talking about 'Give me chocolate' or something like that?" "The Jangchung-dong Gymnasium was also built by the Philippines, right?"

The image that comes to mind when thinking of "aid" is generally like that. Stories of receiving chocolate or flour from the United States during times when everyone was starving from the pains of war. Considering South Korea's current status in the international community, such stories are hard to imagine. In fact, South Korea is the only country that has transitioned from being a recipient of ODA to a donor country.

The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has allocated 6.5 trillion won for next year's Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget, a 45% increase from this year. They have heavily promoted this as the largest budget ever. They also set an ambitious goal to become a global pivotal country.

"Will it succeed?"

The record-breaking budget stimulated our investigative instincts. Especially since the budget is spent with taxpayers' money, it is necessary to scrutinize whether it is being used properly without waste in the needed areas.

Through preliminary reporting with people involved in ODA projects, we learned that since these projects take place in developing countries, there have been ongoing issues such as poor management and corruption. The number of neglected projects increased significantly as local managers could not visit due to COVID-19.

Amid this, the Saemangeum Jamboree controversy arose. Although intoxicated by the status of being a developed country, poor implementation ultimately damaged the country's international reputation.

We focused on this very issue of "breaking free from the illusion of being a developed country." To truly join the ranks of developed countries, our government needs to invest more time and effort in external projects. Just as we once were, these projects might be desperately needed from the perspective of recipient countries. They were simply neglected because they were invisible and hard to verify.

First, we downloaded 4.85 million data points covering 10 years of government ODA projects and organized them in Excel. We recruited data experts. This was the first step of the "K Aid Tracker."

Like Salmon Swimming Upstream Against the Data

Using clues from the OECD and ODA insiders about problems, we dismantled and reassembled the 4.85 million data points in various ways. We separately gathered and examined which ministries implement ODA, focused on large projects exceeding a certain amount, and lined up recipient countries starting with Vietnam, the country receiving the most aid.

Based on data analysis results, the diplomatic correspondent met people involved in ODA, the international correspondent sought advice from Japan, Sweden, and collected overseas materials and interviews. The reporter covering the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Sejong took charge of budget-related reporting. We organized all information in Google Docs, and as the document grew to several pages, we were able to summarize common problems in Korean ODA: ▲ failure to understand local conditions ▲ failure in post-management.

The Board of Audit and Inspection's monitoring report recorded ODA failure cases. However, the names of countries or implementing agencies were anonymized as 'Country A,' 'Country B,' 'Agency C,' etc. The more failure cases appeared and the more the anonymized country names overlapped, the more reasonable it was to suspect these were countries receiving significant aid.

Vietnam is the country South Korea provides the most aid to. Using a translation tool, we combined various words like 'Han quoc' (the Korean word for South Korea in Vietnamese), 'ODA,' and searched hundreds of times. We found regions appearing in the ODA Excel data, the Board of Audit and Inspection's monitoring report, and three Vietnamese media outlets. In South Korea, a press release was widely issued on the groundbreaking day, and years later, Vietnamese local media reported consecutively that the Korean solar power ODA project failed and was under inspection by the People's Committee.

Grandmother Ho Thi Dam from Ban Lao Kon village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam, is talking in front of the solar power generator installed in her backyard. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

In a broadcast interview with Vietnamese media, a grandmother wearing a headscarf explained to reporters with her arms spread, "All the electricity went out after a year and a half." This is Ho Thi Dam, who appears in our article.

The grandmother's appeal was powerful.

"Here."

The ODA failure case report was thus selected at the solar power project site in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam.

We sent tip-off emails to the Korean Association and Korean media asking, "If you know about the solar power ODA failure case in Quang Binh Province, please contact us." We also posted messages on the Korean Association's social media. We received some responses, but none contained decisive information, which was disappointing. After combining various reports, our conviction to visit the site grew stronger.

Emails sent by the reporters to the local Vietnamese media and the Korean Association.

A Week in Vietnam

To reach Ban Rao Con village, we first had to fly to Dong Hoi Airport. It was a long one-way journey of 11 hours, including a transfer to a domestic flight via Hanoi.

"Due to the mountainous terrain, it is difficult to install a national power grid, so electricity is supplied through solar power generation."

As intended by the ODA project, the village was located an hour and 30 minutes by car up a mountain from Dong Hoi city. The only road was a single-lane unpaved road, with dense jungle cliffs right beside it. Sometimes, cattle freely raised by residents blocked the road. Since it was the rainy season, muddy water pooled on the road, and wheels often got stuck and spun. "Vietnamese reporters covering this area usually come on motorcycles because it's hard to drive cars here," said the interpreter, but we could barely hear. Moreover, cell phone reception was lost an hour before arriving at the village. Holding the handle on the car roof, my hands tightened, and my eyes squeezed shut. It remains a dizzying memory.

Children are playing arm wrestling before class starts at Bin Laocon School. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

The residents of Ban Rao Con seemed to open their hearts to our efforts. At first, they shook their heads even at the Vietnamese interpreter's words. For four days, we literally risked our lives commuting to the village. We searched for and checked 10 broken solar panels through the weeds and asked various questions, which gradually made the villagers open up to us. We reached the point of greeting passersby and were able to draw a village map after returning to our accommodation. As intimacy grew, we could share more stories.

To capture their lives accurately, we paid attention to detailed reporting. We visited Nguyen Thi Anh's house daily, and after becoming close, she showed us everything from photos to her drawing diary and sketchbook, which we recorded. This is why we could include all villagers' names and ages in the article and vividly weave Ho Thi Dam's 60-year life story into the report.

The reporters asked the villagers, focusing on the school and kindergarten in Ban Lao Kon village, to mark the locations for solar panel installation. They then traced the routes based on the marked areas to check the number of damaged solar panels and the management status of the batteries.

Tracking

While commuting to Ban Rao Con village, we collected Vietnamese government documents related to the ODA project with the interpreter. The documents listed two subcontractors contracted by KT, the solar power project contractor. We searched for their office addresses on Google and visited them. We decided to confront the situation head-on. One company had gone bankrupt and no longer existed, while the other was still operating.

"We are from Korea and want to hear about the KT settlement issue." We appealed first. Initially defensive, the person gradually opened up, thanking us for our interest and sharing inside stories. He invited us to his home and openly showed the piled-up equipment in his backyard. The interview with the company official who said, "I divorced because of Korea," featured in episode 3, was made possible this way.

Back in Korea, triangulation was necessary. We sent official letters and pursued interviews to hear the positions of KT and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (EDCF), which funded the project. To find help with information requests, we visited the National Assembly building and contacted seven lawmakers' offices. The articles reporting on Ban Rao Con village, based on analysis of 4.85 million data points, 49 information disclosure requests, and cooperation with seven lawmakers' offices, were published.

Afterword

The "K Aid Tracker" and the narrative series "Solar Power and Firewood," covering the failed solar power project in Quang Binh Province, began publication on October 24. The narrative page was released on the 30th. Comments started appearing such as, "The smiling faces make it even more heartbreaking," and "Isn't this budget waste? It should be properly used for those residents."

After the reports, lawmakers and ministry officials began to take action. During the National Assembly audit period, Lee Jong-bae, a member of the Industry, Trade and Energy Committee from the People Power Party, cited the article highlighting problems with Korean ODA contracts made without consultation minutes and questioned Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Bang Beom-gyu. Minister Bang promised, "We will manage the budget more strictly."

The response crossed party lines. The Democratic Party also expressed that they read the article with deep impression and wanted to prepare ODA-related inquiries in the committee, requesting to meet with the reporters for explanations. We will do our best to convey what we have investigated so that the ODA budget will be properly used in the right places in the future.

However, we have yet to receive an official statement from the implementing agency about revisiting Ban Rao Con village or repairing the project.

What we could do for Ho Thi Dam was to report what happened and deliver it to Korea.

The name South Korea is called in Vietnamese is Han Quoc. She firmly believed that someday someone from Han Quoc would come to fix the broken panels.

Looking at the battery in the electrical box she has guarded, saying, "It’s not mine but given by Han Quoc," we believe there is definitely more that our country can do.

We earnestly hope those involved in this ODA project respond to the villagers who "just want light."

■Infographic Page■

Solar Power and Firewood - Ban Rao Con Village Report, Vietnam

(story.asiae.co.kr/vietnam)

What Problems Does Splitting Aid Budgets Cause?

(story.asiae.co.kr/ODA)

This project was supported by the Press Promotion Fund, funded by government advertising fees.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.