ASEAN Community and ROK-ASEAN Relations in 2018 and Outlook in 2019

 

 

Current Issues and Policies No. 2018-20

December 17, 2018

Dr. Choi Kyunghee

Research Fellow, Southeast Asia Center,

Seoul National University Asia Center

kalli@snu.ac.kr

 

 

I. Singapore-Chaired ASEAN Community in 2018, the Third Year of the Second Phase

Born under the slogan of 3P (peace, prosperity, and progress) in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) celebrated the 51st anniversary this year. However, as widely known, the ASEAN has transformed to ‘ASEAN Community (AC),’ no longer a mere ‘association.’ Beginning with the discussions on the idea of building a community in 2003, the ASEAN countries planned the launch of the ASEAN Community by 2015. Hence, viewing the establishment procedure of the AC, the first phase pertains to the period between 2007 and 2015 and the period from 2015 to 2025 could be construed as the second phase. The AC, prepared during the 7-8 years of the first phase, was recognized as ‘still insufficient as a community’ from the beginning, and the ASEAN member states declared the “ASEAN Community Blueprints 2025” submitted in three different chapters - political-security, economic, and socio-cultural community - to complete the ‘ASEAN as a community’ overcoming the shortcomings.

The evaluation of AC is to understand how and to what extent these plans have proceeded with different issues. In this context, 2016 was the first year of the second phase and the year 2018 is the third year of the second phase. Whereas the 10 AC member states commonly assume the tasks enumerated in the ‘Blueprint 2025,’ the country with chairmanship - which rotates every year in alphabetical order in pursuant to the organization’s principles - manifest its colors in the AC policy and diplomacy. This year Singapore chaired the ASEAN and Thailand will take over next year. As the most developed state among the ASEAN members, Singapore dealt with ‘smart cities’ as one of the most crucial agendas this year. Moreover, as Singapore hosted the historic ‘DPRK-U.S. summit’ on June 12, 2018, it was at the global spotlight. Thailand, assuming the chairmanship for 2019, set the theme for next year as “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability.” The most impressive point this year was when Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed the ASEAN’s position at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit on 12 November as the U.S.-China trade dispute intensified. He opposed the trade protectionism that most global leaders fear and championed the open market, “The more integrated and open our markets are, the more conducive our rules and business environments to foreign investment, the larger the pie will grow, and the more we will all benefit.” He added that ASEAN wants a better and closer regional integration and this will be most successful when it is based on multilateralism. That is, the ASEAN clarified its stance amid the U.S. protectionism and U.S.-China trade dispute.

 

1. ASEAN Political-Security Community

ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) aims to promote peace, security, rule of law, human rights, and democracy in the region and intends to build on these values based on ASEAN Centrality and strengthen ASEAN Centrality in other multilateral conference architectures. Traditionally, these fundamental principles are stipulated in the ASEAN Charter and Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). Therefore, the non-ASEAN countries begin with agreeing to the TAC to proceed with earnest cooperation and exchanges with ASEAN. The TAC ensures the various multilateral cooperation architectures to operate under the premise that the states settle differences or disputes by peaceful means. As of 2018, 37 states entered into the TAC, with the accession of Iran and Argentina this August.

Non-traditional security has been one of the key agendas discussed among the APSC-related issues. This year, the APSC strived to discuss cybersecurity systematically. The increase in cyber crimes and delicacy in transnational cyber crimes have called for more accurate understanding and response to the issues. Consequently, the member states initiated discussion on the establishment of a platform to address these issues while penetrating the cybersecurity policy, diplomacy, cooperation, and three axes of ASEAN. ASEAN understands this as another aspect of its ICT development strategy. This year, the second and third ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Cybersecurity (AMCC) were held and ASEAN plans to open ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence and ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre as agreed at the 33rd ASEAN summit. This news seems unfortunately disappointing for South Koreans. While ASEAN insistently requested South Korea to cooperate in ICT-relevant fields, South Korea appears to be always a step behind noting the fact that ASEAN and Japan announced the plan to open the ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre.

As numerous issues related to the APSC exist, the paper touches on the issue that South Korea should focus on. It is the issue on ‘peace,’ a point of emphasis for the South Korean government’s New Southern Policy and an occasion to enable APSC to contribute to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

ASEAN Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (ASEAN-IPR) exists under the APSC. The pursuance of peace is an all-inclusive concept to build peace that encompasses not only prevention of armed conflict and war but also enhancement of a culture of peace and diversity, implementation and tolerance of religion and culture, and an embodiment of tolerance and equilibrium within society, etc. These concerns were raised from the blueprint for the first phase, but the institute began operation recently. That is, Indonesia has led the initiative in the first year of ASEAN-IPR Work Plan 2018-2020. This October, Indonesia hosted ASEAN-IPR Regional Youth Conference on Peace and Tolerance: Building Unity and Common Understanding on Countering Intolerance and Violent Extremism in Jakarta. This denotes a significant meaning. It is the ASEAN’s endeavor to overcome violent extremism and intolerance and promote peace, tolerance and pluralism. The South Korean society also has the concern of transforming into a ‘society of hate and fear’. Moreover, it has a number of issues to settle peace on the Korean Peninsula in the future. In times of need for governance to be established to build a peaceful East Asian society by ROK-ASEAN cooperation, the ASEAN-IPR’s activities are worthy of attention.

 

2. ASEAN Economic Community

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is forecasted to take a positive projection, albeit the negative conditions such as trade disputes and foreign loans. The AEC recorded around 5-percent economic growth from 2016 to 2018 - 4.8% in 2016, 5.3% in 2017, and 5.1% in 2018 - and is predicted to achieve 5.2% economic growth in 2019. In 2017, the external trade volume of AEC amounted to 2.57 trillion US dollars in total and the intra-ASEAN trade accounts for 22.9% and the total trade in services cover 16.7%, 695.2 billion US dollars. And the foreign direct investment to the AEC reached 137.0 billion dollars in 2017, and the intraregional investment was 19.4%. The AEC aims to double all these statistics by 2025. The AEC-led multilateral economic cooperation mechanism, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), did not wrap up the negotiations this year and several tasks remain. First, the parties, satisfied with the negotiations this year, intend to complete the negotiations by next year. In adherence to the tenets of multilateral trade and open market, the AEC held the annual meeting with IMF and World Bank to discuss the sustainable development of AEC and resolution to the development gap in October this year.

As the paper previously touched on, Singapore, this year’s ASEAN chair, elevated the discussion on smart cities within ASEAN. In July, the ASEAN Smart Cities Framework was adopted as ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN). This is the ASEAN’s agreed answer on common response and resolution to the several challenges posed by the acceleration of industrialization-driven urbanization such as urban density, traffic congestion, water and air pollution, urban slum, widening rich-poor gap and the urban-rural gap, etc. ASEAN Smart Cities Framework consists of three strategic outcomes (high quality of life, competitive economy, and sustainable environment) and six development focus areas (civic and social, health and well-being, safety and security, quality environment, built infrastructure, and industry and innovation). As such, the plans on smart cities are closely linked with other various blueprints that ASEAN announced - AC Blueprints 2025, MPAC 2025, and IAI Work Plan Ⅲ.

Above all else, AEC focuses largely on ICT area. Many ASEAN Connectivity projects to realize AEC and those projects to raise physical and institutional connectivity necessitate ICT technology. For example, the idea of ASEAN Single Window to unify the customs procedure to energize regional trade is also based on ICT. The ASEAN member states have had full of discussion on ASEAN ICT Masterplan 2020 in late 2015, ASEAN Digital Integration Framework to narrow the digital development gap among other development gaps within the AEC. However, the ASEAN member states are incapable to realize these plans by themselves except for Singapore.

The South Korean government needs to move forward actively to map out ROK-ASEAN cooperation projects on ASEAN Smart Cities, a culmination of ASEAN demand for ICT and the digital field.

 

3. ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) is an aggregation of ASEAN citizens’ lives based on the ASEAN Charter that the AC should contribute to the quality of life, human rights, and welfare of ASEAN citizens. The ASCC is committed to achieve a sense of ASEAN identity, promote ASEAN awareness, and build a community with connectedness and belonging among the ASEAN citizens. That is, the ASCC aims to build a community that “engages and benefits the people, and is inclusive, sustainable, resilient, and dynamic” with expectations of ASEAN being innovative and elevating citizen’s quality of life. The ASCC is the final destination of the three versions of AC.

ASCC has promoted programs for ASEAN youths. This year, the Singaporean government initiated the Singapore-ASEAN Youth Fund and the first ASEAN Integrated Esports and Music Festival was held in August. In line with “ASEAN Declaration on Culture of Prevention for a Peaceful, Inclusive, Resilient, Healthy and Harmonious Society” adopted in 2017, the Indonesian government hosted the ASEAN Youth Interfaith Camp for mutual understanding and dialogue promotion in October to understand the cultural background and differences. And with the Philippine government’s initiative, the youth of ASEAN adopted the ASEAN Declaration on the Adoption of the ASEAN Youth in Climate Action and Disaster Resilience Day.

Other important aspects of ASCC are ‘children’ and ‘women’. ASCC aims to protect children and women from all types of violence and discrimination and strengthen their capacity. Primarily, all three communities of AC strive to establish a culture to prevent accidents rather than tackling social issues as they occur. ASEAN Training Centre for Social Work and Social Welfare for social welfare and capacity-building of women and children will be opened in 2019 with the Thai government’s initiative. Also, the center is planned to cope with tasks of promoting social enterprises for the disabled to overcome social discrimination of the disabled and enhance inclusive society.

Above all, ASEAN decided the next year as ‘ASEAN Cultural Year 2019’. ASEAN intends to promote its culture globally and to strengthen its creative industry, cultural tourism, and sustainable development through culture. Therefore, ASEAN expects to hold meaningful cultural events with its dialogue partners in 2019. South Korea and ASEAN will commemorate the 30th anniversary of dialogue partnership in 2019. Seoul should match ASEAN’s expectations on “ASEAN Cultural Year 2019” and implement a worthwhile initiative to further close cultural bond between South Korea and ASEAN in the long term.

 

 

Ⅱ. ROK-ASEAN Community Relations in 2018

 

The Moon Jae-in administration’s policy toward ASEAN concretely differs from that of the previous administrations. Since its inauguration, the administration recognized ASEAN as a diplomatic counterpart on par with the four neighboring countries (the U.S., China, Japan, and Russia), and sent a special envoy for ASEAN for the first time when President Moon took office. Also, visiting Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines in November 2017, President Moon announced the ASEAN-ROK Future Community Vision and the New Southern Policy centered on peace, prosperity, and people. This is a sea change, a stimulus to expect positive reverberations in various aspects.

 

1. South Korea’s Comprehensive Policy toward ASEAN Beyond Mercantilism

The Moon Jae-in administration’s diplomacy toward ASEAN vastly distances itself from the past. In this context, it could be construed as the transition phase of South Korea’s diplomacy toward ASEAN. This is attributable to the discrepancy between the reality and bilateral diplomacy - that ASEAN-Korea relations have enhanced as ASEAN has been South Korea’s second largest trading partner, third largest investment destination, second largest market of construction projects, and first travel destination, but South Korea did not draw out discernable diplomacy toward ASEAN. That is, the imbalance existed between the real world and diplomatic strategy. The announcement of this diplomatic strategy placed ASEAN as a major diplomatic partner for South Korea after a time of voidness in South Korea’s diplomacy toward ASEAN. In November 2017, the South Korean government announced the New Southern Policy and ASEAN welcomed the policy and expressed its expectations. And many government-affiliated think tanks and research institutes in South Korea have competitively held various academic events related to the New Southern Policy.

The control tower for the New Southern Policy was established, the Presidential Committee on New Southern Policy. Marking the first anniversary of announcing the policy, the committee announced three goals and 16 tasks. There are also cynics who question the difference with the previous policy on ASEAN and those who point out the lack of a roadmap that categorizes short-term and long-term tasks. Even so, the New Southern Policy has its significance in expressing the resolve to overcome the limitations of existing policy toward ASEAN and in presenting directions and values of diplomatic strategy.

The three goals of the New Southern Policy are: enhancing mutual understanding through increasing exchanges; establishing a foundation for future-oriented, reciprocal, and mutually beneficial economic cooperation; and establishing a peaceful and safe regional security environment. These three goals are presumably designed to overcome the mercantilist relationship dominating the ROK-ASEAN relations that focused on ‘trade.’ The New Southern Policy is a comprehensive diplomatic strategy toward the ASEAN, pursuing economic cooperation with co-prosperity beyond simple trade relations and ‘people-oriented’ and ‘sustainable security and peace’ for the future community relations.

 

2. ASEAN Diplomacy’s Role in the Transformation of Inter-Korean and DPRK-U.S. Relations

The Cold War order in the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia have transformed since the historic inter-Korean summit on April 27, and ensuing two inter-Korean summits and the first DPRK-U.S. summit. The ASEAN have expressed active support and interest in this transformation. In the Chairman’s statement of the 33rd ASEAN Summit in Singapore on November 13, 2018, it stipulated statements regarding the Korean Peninsula affairs, “We welcomed the Inter-Korean Summits held on 27 April 2018, 26 May 2018 and from 18 to 20 September 2018, as well as the summit between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Singapore on 12 June 2018. We also welcomed the Panmunjom Declaration, the Pyongyang Joint Declaration as well as the Joint Statement signed between US President Donald J Trump and Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK Kim Jong Un. We urged all concerned parties to continue working towards the realisation of lasting peace and stability on a denuclearised Korean Peninsula, including through the full and expeditious implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration, the Pyongyang Joint  Declaration  and  the  Joint  Statement  by  the  US  and  DPRK  leaders.”

ASEAN’s attitude toward the inter-Korean issue assumes an important position. The inter-Korean issue is already an international agenda, rendering the international diplomatic landscape crucial. For example, while the EU supports the peaceful transition of the inter-Korean relations, it is a distant player. Japan, a stone’s throw away from Korea, does not express positive support for these changes. ASEAN, a geographically close neighbor, is a vital diplomatic partner that agrees to the South Korean government’s policy regarding North Korea and East Asia. For long, ASEAN has expressed continued interest in the peace and stability of the inter-Korean relations and implied that the ASEAN member states could play a positive role in North Korea’s reform and opening and economic development. North Korea seeks a strategy with ‘reform and opening policy that enables the country to develop its economy while maintaining the regime stability.’ Among the ASEAN countries, Vietnam’s Doi Moi policy has been reportedly the most appropriate model for North Korea’s reform and opening and Vietnam has prepared this change for years. Before the sanctions against North Korea were imposed in earnest, Thailand and Singapore were one of North Korea’s largest trading partners in 2012 and 2013. Also, Singapore’s strategy of developing special economic zones to become the global hub has been a similar case that North Korea intends to pursue.

Even with the individual case of Indonesia, a group of scholars led by the former Indonesian Ambassador to the U.S. Dino Patti Djala visited Pyongyang in April 2018, the ruling PDI-P’s President Sukarnoputri Megawati attended the Kor-Asia Forum in November and expressed support for the Panmunjom Declaration, and President Joko Widodo suggested to invite Chairman Kim Jong-un at the 30th anniversary of ROK-ASEAN special summit next year during the ASEAN summit in November 2018. As such, the AC member states could play a large role in expressing its position and acting for the denuclearization and the settlement of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Above all, in the midst of international order defined by U.S.-USSR power struggle previously and U.S.-China standoff currently, ASEAN was established and served as a coalition of weak powers, an association of countries with different political systems, and a long-functioning zone of peace and neutrality, and a continuing dialogue mechanism. It is the sole regional cooperation organization that could assist North Korea’s reform and opening up and propose multiple alternatives. That is, the ASEAN is the only regional cooperation mechanism that enables North Korea to smoothly implement the reform and opening.

 

3. Korea-ASEAN Cooperation

The Korea-ASEAN exchanges and cooperation commenced in 1989 when the bilateral dialogue relations were established. The Korea-ASEAN relationship elevated to strategic partnership in 2010 and the two sides have carried out seven areas of cooperation listed on the ‘ASEAN-Republic of Korea Plan of Action to Implement the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity 2016-2020’ - political and security cooperation, economic cooperation, socio-cultural cooperation, connectivity, cooperation in the regional and international affairs, Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) and narrowing the development gap, and sub-regional cooperation.

The ROK-ASEAN Cooperation Fund (AKCF) contributes to cementing these bilateral cooperation projects. The fund was launched in 1990. In total, approximately $88 million were chipped into the fund from 1990 to 2017. From 2015, the contribution increased from $5 million to $7 million per annum, and this will be doubled from next year onward. The AKCF project carried out cooperation projects that the two sides agreed on including development cooperation, technology transfer, human resource development, culture, and academic exchanges from 1990. However, the two sides straightened out the characteristics of the fund in 2015 and 2016, facing many challenges. It focuses on aiding the ASCC, the fields such as education, culture, and environment in particular. From late 2016 onward, the fund opened an ASEAN-ROK Programme Management Team in Jakarta to manage the fund.

Among the aforementioned seven areas of cooperation, South Korea’s efforts related to Initiative for ASEAN Integration and narrowing the development gap and sub-regional cooperation have bore fruit in the form of ‘Mekong Cooperation Project.’ ASEAN have pointed to the development gap as the largest structural obstacle in their aim for an economically-integrated community. The ASEAN’s effort to bridge this gap is manifested as IAI. To boost these efforts, the South Korean government have vehemently sought cooperation with Mekong states, the underdeveloped states among ASEAN members. One example is the ROK-Mekong Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. At the ROK-ASEAN summit in October 2010, the South Korean government suggested the ‘ROK-Mekong Foreign Ministers’ Meeting’ and gained support from the ASEAN, holding the eighth meeting this year. Currently, the two sides have proceeded with cooperation projects in accordance with Mekong-Republic of Korea Plan of Action 2017-2020. And the two sides have expressed the intent to elevate the ROK-Mekong Foreign Ministers’ Meeting to ROK-Mekong Summit at the 20th ROK-ASEAN Summit in 2018.

At this juncture, two aspects need to be emphasized regarding the development of ROK-ASEAN cooperation projects. First is the domestic issue within the South Korean society. The bilateral cooperation should now consider the cooperation to be publicized, affirmed, and expanded among the South Korean civil society, not constrained to the government-driven projects. It is well known that the ROK-ASEAN relationship is two-way relations. The level of two-way relationship will determine the success of ROK-ASEAN future community. Hence, the most fundamental and crucial point is ‘the level of understanding, knowledge-creation, and -consumption regarding ASEAN within the South Korean society.’ Whereas South Korea’s position and perception on South Korea for each ASEAN member state and ASEAN as a whole are gradually amplifying, the South Korean society still has a low understanding of Southeast Asia. It is high time to have multi-layered efforts to address these issues.

Another point is the problem of choosing the agenda for the ROK-ASEAN cooperation project with enough consideration of ASEAN’s needs. Until now, the South Korean government considered the vision of AC, connectivity, IAI, etc. Nevertheless, this seemed to only scratch the surface. This has links with the fact that the number of experts on ASEAN in South Korea is limited. For instance, Japan also consistently engaged in cooperation projects with Mekong countries, and the subcategories in Tokyo Strategy 2018 for Mekong-Japan Cooperation announced in September this year takes people by surprise because of the details. This appears to be the result of collective intelligence. For South Korea to maintain longevity, continuity, and specificity of the cooperation project with ASEAN, it should start with the contemplation on establishing an agenda-setting system. Above all, it is worthy to remember that the ASEAN’s need and demand are concentrated on ICT, digital integration, and smart cities.

Ⅲ. 2019, the 30th Anniversary of ROK-ASEAN Relations

The next year, 2019, marks the 30th year of ROK-ASEAN relations. Since the establishment of sectoral dialogue partnership in 1989, the bilateral relations were upgraded to fully dialogue partnership in 1991. In 1997, the first ASEAN+3 summit and ROK-ASEAN summit was held and the 20th ROK-ASEAN summit terminated this year. Throughout the development of bilateral relations, the two sides held special summits in 2009 and 2014 in Busan and Jeju to celebrate the 20th and 25th anniversary of dialogue partnership respectively. The 2009 special summit was held under the motto of “Partnership for Real, Friendship for Good.” At the summit, South Korea adopted a joint statement with ASEAN and kick-started the ASEAN-centered ‘new Asia diplomacy’ and proclaimed the strengthening of substantial economic ties with ASEAN. In the 2014 special summit in Busan, the two sides met under the theme of “Building Trust, Bringing Happiness.” The official title of the summit was ‘enhancing Korea-ASEAN strategic partnership and establishing a partnership of trust and happiness.’ The two sides agreed on consolidating of support for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula, deepening economic cooperation, sharing development experience for the era of happiness of global society, and laying a foundation for a forward-looking relationship for mutual exchange and understanding.

As the year 2019 commemorates the 30th anniversary of Korea-ASEAN dialogue relations, it is a crucial year to elevate the relations to another level. The ROK-ASEAN relations should support the inter-Korean issues and the development of DPRK-ASEAN relations and share a vision that corresponds to the ‘Korea-ASEAN future community vision.’ I expect the upgraded Korea-ASEAN relations to pursue the following influence and objectives.

 

South Korea and ASEAN Leading the Inclusive Society in Asia

I hope South Korea and ASEAN advocate ‘inclusive society’ as the most significant concept to address global issues. Already the Moon Jae-in administration’s philosophy and AC vision entail the concept of ‘inclusive society.’ For a sustainable international order, it is desirable for the two sides to agree to build a ‘inclusive society’ as a core concept to overcome the serious crisis that all countries around the world encounters - wealth gap, social instability, uncertainty, increased social conflict, confrontation between citizens and immigrants, strife among ethnicities and cultures, transition to ‘hate society,’ etc.

‘Inclusive community’ embraced in the ASCC is a community that “promotes high quality of life, equitable access to opportunities for all and promotes and protects human rights of women, children, youth, the elderly/older persons, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, and vulnerable and marginalised groups.” It also touches on the following issues for all the people, including, but not limited to welfare, social safety net, women’s capabilities, gender equality, protection and improvement of human rights, equal opportunity, eradication of poverty, healthcare, decent work, and education. The Moon Jae-in administration clarified the concept of an ‘inclusive state’ at this year’s National Assembly address. I hope South Korea and the ASEAN which aspire to a people-centered community, urge the global society to transform into an inclusive society.

 

ROK-ASEAN Middle Power Diplomacy for Sustainable Peace and Sustainable World Order

The 21st century is commonly referred to as the era of Asia. The Asia-led global society should be a ‘sustainable world order’ that differs qualitatively from the past. The 19th and the 20th century could be named as an era of great power-driven order and ideological confrontation, South Korea and ASEAN need to proclaim that the era of middle powers led by South Korea and ASEAN is to usher in an era of ‘post-ideology’ and globalism with genuine cooperation. It is to create an ‘era of genuine mutual understanding’ for ‘genuine cooperation’ and demand a transition to ‘an era of genuine reconciliation and understanding.’

In 2013, South Korea became self-conscious of the middle power status and engaged in middle power diplomacy with the birth of MIKTA (Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey, and Australia). The Moon Jae-in administration, inaugurated in 2017, proclaimed the importance of the middle power diplomacy and this is the key diplomatic momentum that drives South Korea’s diversity in foreign policy to explore new markets. Marking the 30th anniversary of ROK-ASEAN relations, South Korea and ASEAN should seize this year as an opportunity to deepen the diplomatic ties and to set the end goal of creating ‘diplomatic space as middle powers.’ That is to say, the objective should be to create a diplomatic space created with ‘South Korea and ASEAN’ being the initiative. The ROK-ASEAN middle power diplomacy intends to contribute to restoring strained relations with neighbors and trust among states. This is based on South Korea’s diplomatic capacity that transformed the inter-Korean and DPRK-U.S. relations and this altered South Korea’s diplomatic direction should be able to function middle power diplomacy under the U.S.-China mega-diplomatic order, combining the ASEAN centrality and cohesion. In the East Asian regional order where South Korea and ASEAN could project middle power diplomacy, the two sides should create diplomatic space for North Korea to pursue denuclearization, reform and opening, and economic growth and South Korea should support the DPRK-ASEAN relations to enhance further.

In several aspects, the 3Ps (people, prosperity, and peace) of New Southern Policy resemble the core values of the Bangkok Declaration in 1967 when ASEAN was born also known as 3Ps (peace, prosperity, and progress) and it matches with the spirit of APSC, AEC, and ASCC. The values that ASEAN pursues is a people-centered inclusive community and a sustainable resilient community. If South Korea in Northeast Asia and ASEAN in Southeast Asia establishes a middle power diplomacy connection and diplomatic space in East Asia, it could lead to the creation of a new regional order in East Asia, replacing the existing East Asian regional order - South Korea, the U.S., and Japan on one side and China, Russia, and North Korea on the other side.

 

ROK-ASEAN Relations Upgrading Socio-cultural Connectivity: People, Cities and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The AC has proceeded with physical, institutional, and people-to-people connectivity, bringing together all 10 member states. The South Korean government proposes the concept of ‘socio-cultural connectivity’ as a project to conglomerate people, cities, and the fourth industrial revolution. The concept of socio-cultural connectivity signifies that the era of fourth industrial revolution and artificial intelligence focuses on ‘people, the embracers of culture’ and raise ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ connectivity between the ASEAN people and South Korean people. It is to link anew South Korea and ASEAN with ‘culture code’ - knowledge and human exchanges and restoration of traditional knowledge. As the paper mentioned earlier, the next year is the ‘ASEAN Cultural Year 2019.’ ASEAN also intends to set the ultimate goal as the outward expansion and mutual exchange of ASEAN culture. As Head Coach Park Hang-seo of Vietnamese national football team has positively affected the ROK-Vietnam relations, I hope South Korea and ASEAN could design a strategy to raise socio-cultural connectivity between the two sides, perceiving that the ‘culture code’ could be one ‘point of connection.’

As the paper mentioned earlier, South Korea decided to focus on ASCC - in fact, a suitable choice. This strategy differentiates from Chinese and Japanese approach to ASEAN and an exemplery case of middle power diplomacy. Having said that, a strategy is required to bring this approach to success. In other words, South Korea needs a strategy to enhance bilateral understanding ‘culturally’ and ‘socially’, to draw closer people from the two sides, to invigorate exchanges, and to constitute communal public relations with ASEAN. It would take the form of inauguration and execution of ‘Korea-ASEAN sociocultural research and education center’ (tentative). One could imagine the center to open both in Korea and ASEAN to function systemically. In the end, it is necessary to have a knowledge-sharing and cultural strategy to increase ‘socio-cultural connectivity’ to establish a Korea-ASEAN future community. It is imperative to have ‘people-centered values as the common value between Korea and ASEAN and the drive of human activities that motivate and is shared among the people of the two sides. 

 

 

 

 

This article is based on the author’s personal opinion and does not reflect the views of the Sejong Institute.

 

*Translator’s note: This is an unofficial translation of the original paper which was written in Korean. All references should be made to the original paper.