Park vows to provide more than $11m in aid to African countries

South Korean President Park Geun-hye has pledged to provide more than US$11 million to 10 African countries over the next five years for vocational training, calling education a solution to ending violent extremism and "an integral ingredient" to economic success, Yonhap said on its website.

South Korea has helped five African countries -- Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- in developing and distributing textbooks under the $10-million project since 2011. The project is set to end in 2016.

South Korea plans to add five new African countries for a second phase of the project with a budget of about $11.8 million. There is no word yet on which countries will be the new recipients.

"Poverty, the lack of jobs for the young and social marginalization of the vulnerable, among others, are creating hotbeds of discord and conflict," Park said in a speech at UNESCO in Paris.

"Against this backdrop, Korea will more actively scale up its contributions to international efforts to deal with such challenges facing humanity."

Sources: MENA