2017.5.31(수), 주ASEAN 대표부
President SUH Chung-ha (서정하),
Professor Caroline HERNANDEZ (캐롤라인 헤르난데즈), H.E. Ambassador LEE Sun-jin (이선진),
H.E. Ambassador Nguyen Duc Hung (응우엔 죽 훙),
Dr. Ralf Emmers (에머스), Dr. Tan See Seng (탄), Ms. Rahima “Ima” Abdulrahim Distinguished participants,
And, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon to you and welcome to Jeju.
First, allow me to express my sincere gratitude to President SUH Chung-ha for his invitation, and to his team at Jeju Peace Institute organizing this session.
I am very pleased to be here with you all and deliver the keynote speech on the topics that are very close to my heart.
I would like to begin my speech by highlighting some of the achievements that ASEAN has made since its establishment in 1967.
In political-security area, this year ASEAN celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding. In 1967, ASEAN was founded by its original 5 member states in Bangkok, Thailand. Since its establishment, we have witnessed the remarkable story of this regional organization originally founded with the intention of achieving regional peace and stability; later it went on to pave the way toward
building a sustainable regional community.
Since 1967, Southeast Asia has not witnessed any conventional interstate wars among the states. ASEAN has successfully promoted trust and confidence among its members and contributed to the strengthening of cooperation among them. Not only has ASEAN achieved its successes in Southeast Asia, but it has also been the initiator of diplomatic and security cooperation in Asia-Pacific by launching the ARF in 1994 and ADMM+ (ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus) in 2010.
In the area of economy, I believe that ASEAN has produced more tangible outcomes than other areas. With political peace and stability in place, ASEAN states have focused on their internal economic developments. During the course of their economic developments, ASEAN states are convincing that creating a regional economic group would increase its competitiveness against others. To this end, ASEAN formed the AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade Area) in 1992; and by the end of 2015, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was launched. Now, ASEAN is the 6th largest economy in the world with an estimated GDP of US$ 2.6 trillion.
Not only ASEAN has achieved its own economic success, but ASEAN has also been the main initiator of a broader regional economic integration like RCEP.
In terms of ASEAN’s socio-cultural achievements, there are too many accomplishments to recite them all. Just to name a few examples are; ASEAN states have attained their literacy rates over 90%. Also, now 1 in 8 persons in ASEAN are living under the poverty line of $1.25 per day, which previously were 1 in 2 persons just 20 years ago.
We have been many more accomplishments than what I have described over 50 years. As ASEAN Community reaches maturity, I have no doubt that there will be
no shortage of success stories of ASEAN working together toward a common goal.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Knowing how successful ASEAN has been, now I would like to touch upon the achievements that Korea and ASEAN have made together for more than last two decades.
In political-security area, Korea and ASEAN embarked on our mutually beneficial relationship in 1989 when Korea was given the status of ASEAN’s Sectoral Dialogue Partner. Korea had previously focused more on bilateral approaches toward each ASEAN member states; however, Korea gradually put more emphasis on ASEAN as a whole. To testify such relations, Korea was elevated to a full Dialogue Partner by 1991. In 2010, both agreed to elevate our cooperative partnership to the Strategic Partnership. Since 1989, Korea hosted two Korea- ASEAN Commemorative Summits here in Jeju in 2009 and in Busan, 2014 respectively. In 2012, 5 years ago, Korea opened a dedicated diplomatic mission to ASEAN in Jakarta.
In economy, since 1989, Korea has focused on expanding its economic ties with ASEAN states bilaterally and multilaterally. As a result, the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade-in-Goods Agreement was concluded in 2007. Tomorrow in Seoul, we will have its 10th commemorative event. Furthermore, the ASEAN-Korea Center was founded in 2009 to promote trade facilitation and investment between Korea and ASEAN. In addition, we are in negotiation to further liberalize our current Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.
With that, now Korea and ASEAN are key economic partners. To Korea, ASEAN is the top No.2 partner in trade and investment. To ASEAN, Korea is the top No. 5
in those 2 areas respectively.
With regards to our socio-cultural cooperation, our people-to-people exchanges have significantly increased as well. ASEAN has become the number 1 foreign destination for Koreans; in addition, the number of ASEAN citizens, who are living, working and studying in Korea, is the largest among the registered foreigners in Korea. Korea is planning to open up a dedicated ASEAN Culture House in September this year to raise Koreans’ awareness on ASEAN’s diverse cultures and heritages.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Having discussed what ASEAN and Korea-ASEAN relations have achieved, now I would like to shift our sights on the future of ASEAN by 2030.
In political-security area, at the end of 2015, ASEAN officially launched the ASEAN Community. By 2016, ASEAN came up with its official plans that clearly map out the targets of the Community by 2025. According to those documents, the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) is envisioned to uphold ASEAN fundamental principles, shared values and norms; also, the Community will be a united, inclusive and resilient community where ASEAN citizens will live in a safe, harmonious and secure environment while embracing the values of moderation and tolerance.
Before fully realizing its dream, ASEAN will face with known and unknown challenges. If ASEAN wishes to overcome future obstacles, it must uphold and protect its shared values, principle and norms.
In dealing with external relations, ASEAN will do its utmost work to maintain its relevance and cohesiveness among the members. In order to achieve this goal,
ASEAN must work together to create a strong unity among the members and uphold ASEAN’s central role in external affairs.
In economy, as the most prominent pillar of the Community, the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community) will always take a center stage among the three communities. Once ASEAN’s internal economic integration is deepened as a single-production base and single market, the AEC will become a full-fledged global production base. As a result, it will become the 4th largest economy in the world after the U.S., China and the European Union. In doing so, ASEAN’s intra- regional trade must be invigorated while keeping the work on expanding ASEAN’s middle class. But, most important of all, to maintain its economic viability in future, ASEAN must anticipate and accordingly transform the region to serve as the innovation axis for the 4th Industrial Revolution.
In socio-culture area, before the Community was launched, ASEAN had always emphasized that the ultimate purpose of regional integration efforts was to enhance ASEAN citizens’ well-being and welfare. ASEAN’s future oriented documents clearly spell out that the Community will be a ‘People-oriented, People-centered’ one. However, ASEAN’s efforts for its citizens will require more works to be done; particularly, ASEAN must urgently act on the issues of instilling an ASEAN identity and bonds among its citizens if it really wants to be a
‘People-oriented, People-centered’ community.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Now I would like to turn our focus on the future of Korea-ASEAN relations by 2030.
In political-security, considering the accomplishments of ASEAN since its inception, ASEAN’s experiences and knowledge on dialogue and consultation
will be a very useful lesson for Korea in maintaining peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia. At the same time, Korea and ASEAN will also be able to enhance its collaboration on non-traditional security challenges.
In case the two Koreas are re-unified, the unified Korea and ASEAN will share a common interest of sustaining ever-lasting peace and stability in Asia-Pacific; for this to be achieved, I am sure that the unified Korea and ASEAN should work together even more closely.
In economy, with our political-security cooperation secured, Korea-ASEAN will also enjoy the mutually beneficial economic partnership in future. We will join our hands in establishing the global value-chain as a way to grow our economies together. At the same time, our economic partnership must be a mutually complementary one. I do believe that our future-oriented partnership will help prepare for the widespread disruption caused by the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Sharing our knowledge and experiences on innovative economy will be key to our future partnership.
In socio-culture area, in the near future, common threats that Korea and ASEAN will be facing are the rapidly aging society and low birth rate. Korea has been already experiencing these social transformations. We in Korea have been trying to prepare ourselves for these issues. Like Korea, some ASEAN members are expected to face those challenges as well. In order to address these daunting challenges, Korea and ASEAN should work closely with each other while Korea will be able to share its knowledge and learned lessons to ASEAN.
To this end, we need the expansion of the two sides’ People-to-People exchanges and strong cultural bond.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Having discussed the past achievements of ASEAN and Korea-ASEAN relations, and the future of ASEAN and Korea-ASEAN relations, now I would like to discuss how our think-tanks can play a constructive role for the future of Korea-ASEAN relations.
Considering the nature of Track 1, diverse stake-holders’ ideas and views are not always represented fully. However, when Track 1 tries to formulate future policies, Track 1 must consider divergent ideas and views from various stake- holders. This is why the roles of think-tanks are very important.
Since its founding, ASEAN has always sought invaluable advices from think-tanks around the region; hence, no one can dispute the contributions and roles of ASEAN’s think-tanks on institutionalizing the ASEAN process. The formation of ASEAN-ISIS (Institutes of Strategic and International Studies) is a clear case in point.
As ASEAN strives to reach its goal of becoming a ‘People-centered, People- oriented’ community, ASEAN must earnestly reflect on their diverse communities’ ideas and opinions. To do so, ASEAN’s Track 1 must continue its close working relationship with Track 2 like ASEAN-ISIS.
At the moment, we are faced with never-ending challenges of uncertainties around the world; it is unlikely that these uncertainties will ever disappear; in fact, we can be sure that they will only continue to grow.
Given this reality, Korea and ASEAN must prepare for this uncertain future and find ways to deal with it. In this regards, Track 2 entities from Korea and ASEAN should work closely with each other to provide actionable recommendations to their respective Track 1 bodies. For instance, drawing on ASEAN’s experiences
and knowledge, Track 2 entities of Korea and ASEAN could begin their discussions on the future of peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.
Also, at the moment, other ASEAN-led mechanisms like APT (ASEAN+3), ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum) have already had functional Track 2 associations.
However, given the growing importance of EAS, we should consider a possibility of forming a Track 2 association under EAS mechanism. On the occasion of today’s session, Track 2 entities of Korea and ASEAN could lead the way to form the Track 2 association for EAS.
Ladies and gentlemen,
ASEAN has accomplished remarkable successes along the way just as Korea- ASEAN relations has achieved many successes. But, due to challenges of global uncertainties, ASEAN’s success stories and the achievements of Korea-ASEAN relations cannot be taken for granted in future. In order to keep the momentum of the successes in future, ASEAN as well as Korea must think ‘out-of-the-box’.
For that, I do believe that our Track 2 entities can provide valuable food for thought for Track 1.
I wish you all the productive session and look forward to hearing your valuable suggestions and ideas. Thank you very much.