Over the past years, ASEAN and the ROK have forged closer cooperation, building on positive momentum of the existing strategic partnership. Our relations are one of the ASEAN’s exemplary partnerships in the region. After 19 years, ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations was elevated from Comprehensive Cooperation to Strategic Partnership in 2010. The relationship was further enhanced by the ROK’s appointment of her Ambassador to ASEAN in 2012.The New Southern Policy (NSP), which is President Moon Jae-In’s flagship foreign policy initiative, marked a turning point for ASEAN-ROK relations. By holding the third ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in 2019, Korea became the first dialogue partner of ASEAN to host the special summit on its own soil for three times.

President Moon’s visit to all ASEAN member states during the first half of his term was also very well received by ASEAN member states, showing the great importance that the ROK attaches to relations with ASEAN. The launch of the NSP-Plus in 2020, in particular, demonstrated the government’s resolve to further bolstering ties with ASEAN. It was commendable each and every year President Moon had continued to step up efforts to enhance the ASEAN-ROK partnership throughout his entire term in office.

ASEAN appreciates the ROK’s continued commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership with ASEAN through mutually beneficial and future-oriented cooperation and we welcome the ROK’s intention to request for an ASEAN-ROK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).

ASEAN looks forward to the continuation or even upgraded commitments of the New Southern Policy and the New Southern Policy Plus, and we expect to hear the good news when President Yoon Suk Yeol is visiting Cambodia for the 23rd ASEAN-ROK Summit, 25th ASEAN Plus Three Summit, and the 17th East Asia Summit in November 2022 in Phnom Penh.

President Yoon has made it clear that the strong ASEAN-ROK relations will be sustained, proposing the so-called “ABCD strategy” (advance human capital, build health security, connect cultures, and digitize Asian infrastructure) during his presidential campaign. Southeast Asia appears to be the center piece of President Yoon’s Indo-Pacific initiative.

During Cambodia’s coordinatorship​​ for ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations from 2015 to 2018, amongst other remarkable milestone events and activities, Cambodia has actively contributed to building ASEAN consensus to convene the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations on 26 November 2019 in Busan. During that occasion, the Leaders adopted the ASEAN-ROK Joint Vision Statement for Peace, Prosperity and Partnership to advance the ASEAN-ROK Strategic Partnership into a new height.

Now, let’s us look at the ASEAN-ROK cooperation across the three pillars.On political-security pillar, the ROK has actively contributed to regional peace and security through her active participation in all the ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus, acknowledging that these platforms are for constructive consultations and coordination.

This can be seen through, among others, the convening of the 2nd ASEAN Plus ROK Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime Consultation on 30 September 2021, the 1st ASEAN-ROK Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting in November 2021, as well as ROK’s active participation and contribution to a number of ARF activities.

Being medium and small nations in a regional environment full of geo-strategic complexities and uncertainties, it is the common interest of ASEAN and the ROK that we work closely together within the ASEAN-led mechanisms in promoting dialogue, cooperation and confidence building, contributing to shaping a regional architecture that is open, inclusive and upholding international law with ASEAN at the center.

On economic pillar, despite the COVID-19, ASEAN and the ROK maintain a steady and resilient economic partnership. The ROK is ASEAN’s fifth-largest trading partner and source of FDI among ASEAN Dialogue Partners in 2021. The two-way trade volume remained strong and hit a high record of $189.5 billion in 2021, while FDI inflow from ROK amounted to $7.1 billion in 2021. Two-way trade has already reached $105 billion in the first half of this year. For Korea, ASEAN is its third largest destination for investment after the U.S. and EU — and its second largest trade partner after China.

ASEAN welcomed activities including, among others, the convening of the ASEAN-ROK Startup Festival in December 2021 and the launching of ASEAN-ROK Financial Cooperation Centre at the ROK Mission to ASEAN in April 2022.Both sides cherish mutually beneficial economic relations. As our region recovers and rebuilds from the pandemic, ASEAN has worked closely with the ROK to leverage on the multi layers of FTA from bilateral agreements to AKFTA and RCEP, to further boost trade flows and investments. Most recently, the Cambodia-Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed, and the Philippines-Korea FTA was also concluded. Together with the entering into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), these agreements will contribute to promoting economic exchanges between ASEAN and Korea.

The Korean government has declared a double increase of ODA to ASEAN by 2023 compared to that of 2019, while the annual ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund (AKCF) was also increased from $7 million in 2019 to $16 million in 2022. Korea spends 28 percent of its entire ODA on ASEAN.

Both sides are looking forward to the signing of the MOU on the establishment of the ASEAN-Korea Industrial Innovation Centre (AKIIC) and note the progress of discussion on the ASEAN-ROK Science and Technology Cooperation Centre (AKSTCC) and the ASEAN-Korea Standardization Joint Research Centre (AKSRC), which will provide technical assistance and capacity building for ASEAN member states.

In supporting ASEAN connectivity and integration, the ROK has supported the narrowing of development gap through diverse initiatives under Mekong-ROK Cooperation Fund and the BIMP-EAGA-ROK Cooperation Fund. The Mekong-ROK Cooperation, which was previously a foreign minister-level meeting, was also elevated to the summit level in 2019 with Cambodia’s initiative and both sides lifted their relations to a “strategic partnership” in 2021.