COMMEMORATING 30 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND ASEAN
From the 25th to 26th November of this year, leaders of the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will converge in Busan, Republic of Korea to attend the 2019 Asean-republic of Korea Commemorative Summit in celebration of the 30th anniversary of KOREA-ASEAN dialogue partnership. This will be President Rodrigo Duterte’s second official visit to Korea after his visit in June 2018 to meet President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea.
President Moon had pledged that he would visit all ten ASEAN member states during his presidency and has become the first and only Korean president to do so. It reflects how important the Korean government regards ASEAN. The New Southern Policy, announced in 2017 by President Moon, is Korea’s foreign policy initiative that aims to strengthen its relations with ASEAN and to create a ‘peoplecentered community’ guided by the principles of the 3 Ps—people, prosperity, and peace.
The unique partnership between Korea and ASEAN, including the partnership between Korea and the Philippines, has seen much progress since the establishment of a dialogue partnership in 1989. For three decades, multi-country projects have been implemented to deal with terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and other transnational crimes, alongside efforts in support of peace and reconciliation.
In economic terms, ASEAN is Korea’s second largest trading partner, and for ASEAN, Korea is its 5th biggest foreign investor and trading partner among ASEAN Dialogue Partners in 2018. Korea’s trade volume with the region reached $160 billion ($100 billion in exports and $60 billion in imports) in 2018. To come up with the economic cooperation between Korea and the Philippines, Korea is the 4th largest trading partner of the Philippines in 2018, and for Korean companies in aggregate, Korean companies are the third largest investors of the Philippines in the first half of year 2019. Further growth in this bilateral economic partnership is expected when negotiators of our two countries reach a deal on the ongoing negotiations on a free trade agreement between the Philippines and Korea. Of course, this bilateral trade deal will also contribute to enhancing a high level of cooperation between Korean and ASEAN through regional value chains.
In addition, ASEAN is the most popular destination for Korean tourists, and the number of the visitors between the two regions amounted to 11 million in 2018, with some 1.6 million out of 8.9 million Korean visitors to ASEAN visited the Philippines, and 470,000 out of 2.5 million ASEAN tourists visiting Korea were Filipinos.
I believe that ASEAN will embrace the 3 Ps (people, prosperity, and peace) because these concepts are consistent with ideals already being accepted and advocated in the region, where the diversity of religions, histories and civilizations coexist with shared values of family, community, and kinship. Without doubt, this summit in Busan will be the perfect venue to promote and share Korea’s New Southern Policy with ASEAN members. So as Korea celebrates two momentous events this year, 30 years of dialogue partnership with ASEAN and 70 years of diplomatic ties with the Philippines, it is certainly looking forward to another 30 years of friendship with ASEAN as well as the next 70 years with the Philippines.