INTERVIEW 30th year of ASEAN-Korea ties shine under New Southern Policy
ASEAN-Korea Centre Secretary General Lee Hyuk speaks with The Korea Times in Seoul, March 5. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
By Yi Whan-woo
The past 30 years of relations between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a whole is coming into prominence under President Moon Jae-in’s signature New Southern Policy.
The 10-member ASEAN has emerged as South Korea’s second-largest trading bloc after China, the third-largest investment destination after the United States and European Union and the most popular tourist destination.
ASEAN also has hinted at its potential as a platform for peace on the Korean Peninsula, following two summits between the United States and North Korea in Singapore and Hanoi, Vietnam.
Such positive impacts are in tandem with the New Southern Policy aimed at elevating South Korea’s ties with ASEAN to the same level as with four major powers surrounding the Korean Peninsula — the U.S., China, Japan and Russia — and expand room for diplomatic maneuvering.
At the heart of Seoul’s closer relations with ASEAN is the ASEAN-Korea Centre, a Seoul-based international organization.
Marking its 10th anniversary on March 13, its task is to promote exchanges between the two sides other than security-related issues, such as trade, culture, tourism and academics.
The anniversary coincided with President Moon’s three-nation tour of Southeast Asia, taking in Brunei, Cambodia and Malaysia, this week.
“Our friendship with ASEAN is paying off more than ever under President Moon’s New Southern Policy,” ASEAN-Korea Centre Secretary General Lee Hyuk told the Korea Times last week.
He spoke of highly of Moon’s vision, referring to sustainable economic growth of ASEAN at an annual average of 5 percent and the two U.S.-North Korea summits in the region.
“Many ASEAN countries are developing at a fast rate while the Chinese economy is slowing down,” Lee said. “This certainly is a reason is we should pay greater attention to ASEAN.
“Regarding diplomat talks, they were mainly held in Geneva and other European cities, and you can see from the U.S.-North Korea summits that this trend is starting to change.”
He speculated that cooperation with ASEAN would contribute to Moon’s other vision, a “New Korean Peninsula regime,” for Seoul’s leading role in building a peaceful order in the region in the coming century.
South Korea and ASEAN are organizing a series of events this year to mark their establishment of dialogue in November 1989.
They include a special group summit here around November or December. The host city has not been determined yet.
Korea held such summits twice in 2009 and 2014 and will be the only country to have the third of its kind.
Japan had two summits in 2003 and 2013. The U.S. and Russia had one each in 2016, while India and Australia did so in 2018.
South Korea and five Mekong countries — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — also plan their first group summit, an upgrade from their annual foreign ministerial meeting.
“The envisioned summit will be especially valuable because the four except for Thailand are latecomer economies,” Lee said. “They have considerable potential when it comes to infrastructure development, information and communications technology and so on.”
Other anniversary events are ASEAN Week in central Seoul from June 14 to 16, an ASEAN Train from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 in Seoul, Busan, Gwangju and near the Demilitarized Zone, and publication of an ASEAN-Korea Journal in early April.
ASEAN Week will feature cultural and artistic performances, traditional cuisine and a fashion show.
The ASEAN Train ride will give 200 people a chance to interact, witness South Korea’s rapid economic development and learn the importance of the three pillars of the New Southern Policy — people, prosperity and peace.
The ASEAN Journal will deal with latest information on trade, culture, tourism, people-to-people exchange and other fields of interests between the two sides.
A former ambassador to the Philippines and Vietnam, Lee said his experience as a career diplomat helped him better understand how ASEAN-Korea relations have changed over time and therefore the value of such friendship.
The Philippines has been South Korea’s key ally. It was the first ASEAN country to sign a diplomatic treaty in March 1949, and the fifth in the world after the U.S., the U.K., France and Taiwan.
Vietnam and South Korea established diplomatic relations in 1992 in the aftermath of the Cold War. Despite their relatively short friendship, South Korea is now the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with $1.9 billion in 2017.
Trade volume between ASEAN and South Korea soared from $75 billion in 1989 to $160 billion in 2018.
The number of ASEAN-Korea Centre’s projects increased from 21 in 2009 to more than 50 in 2018.