By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter

The President Lee Myung-bak administration's new approach toward the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was firmly established during Lee's six-day trip to the region, the presidential office said Sunday.

President Lee strengthened the extent of cooperation with both ASEAN as a whole and its individual member states, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye. Lee returned home late Sunday.

In Thailand where the Korea-ASEAN Summit, the ASEAN+3 Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS) took place, Lee advanced Korea-ASEAN relations to a strategic partnership level, a move deemed as political willingness to raise the level of exchanges.

ASEAN is a bloc of 10 Southeast Asian countries with a combined population of 570 million and a $1.1 trillion economy.

Until recently, Korea viewed the bloc as a trade partner that helped Korea even out trade deficits created in other regions.

According to the ASEAN-Korean Center in Seoul, trade surpassed $90 billion last year, with a surplus of nearly $8.3 billion.

With the growing influence of China and Japan in the region and emerging powers like Australia, however, Korea had to reexamine its traditional approach.

Leaders, in particular, discussed whether to include the United States as a partner, an idea highly recommended by Japan. According to Reuters, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yorihisa Matsuno said, ``U.S. involvement will be very important.''

This would pave the way for the U.S. to step up its influence in the region, but it isn't certain whether all other members of ASEAN agreed.

During the summit, President Lee also made a pledge that Korea would allocate a bigger fund for climate change cooperation with ASEAN, and would double the size of official development aid (ODA) by 2015.

Lee also explained his ``grand bargain'' plan to solve the North Korean nuclear issue, which gained support, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Korea and ASEAN first began dialogue in 1989, and Korea became a full dialogue partner in 1991.
In Vietnam, his first destination on an overseas trip prior to the ASEAN meeting, Lee and Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet agreed to elevate bilateral ties to the strategic partnership level.

The political implication was significant since the country is still an ally of North Korea.
In Cambodia, the President gained guarantees for bolstering economic cooperation between the two countries.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen promised extended participation of Korean companies in developing natural resources and producing broadcast contents.

Lee, who was once an economic advisor to the Cambodian leader, responded to Hun by promising an increase amount of ODA.

skim@koreatimes.co.kr