South Korea awaits Jokowi’s arrival at ASEAN-Korea Summit

JAKARTA, Oct 24, 2019, The Jakarta Post. As the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit approaches, host South Korea has been busy finalizing the preparations for the event in Busan on Nov. 25 and 26. The summit is in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN-Korea Dialogue Partnership as well as the first Mekong-Korea Summit, which will take place a day later, reported The Jakarta Post.

South Korea as the host naturally wants this summit to be successful.

“The criteria for a successful summit is ensuring that all [ASEAN] state leaders will attend [this event],”Suh Jeong-in, executive director of the 2019 ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit Preparatory Office, told The Jakarta Post on board the ASEAN-Korea Train recently.

The special train journey itself was only one of many events to welcome the summit.

“I personally would like to see Indonesian President Joko [Jokowi] Widodo attending the event, especially after his inauguration,” he added. “In 2014, he also came to Busan for the summit after being elected president.”

Indonesian Ambassador to South Korea Umar Hadi said he would be happy if Jokowi decided to attend the summit.

“We have suggested to Jakarta that this ASEAN-Korea Summit in Busan is a symbol of a commitment by the South Korean government through its New Southern Policy that it will focus its attention on countries in ASEAN and therefore ASEAN countries should respond to that initiative, to that idea positively,” Umar said.

“It is very important to look at this as an opportunity, not only to have more economic interaction between ASEAN and South Korea but also about peace and stability not only in the ASEAN region but beyond that, maybe northeast Asia,” he added.

Suh said that on the sidelines of the summit there would be many bilateral meetings between the leaders of ASEAN and Korea.

“There will be bilateral meetings, the signing of memorandums of understanding and agreements,” he said. “We will also agree on the establishment of a Korea-ASEAN business cooperation center in Jakarta as well as a Korea-ASEAN science and technology center, also in Jakarta.”

South Korean Ambassador for ASEAN Lim Sung-nam concurred, saying that Korea had a policy toward ASEAN as a whole.

“However, when we talk about our relationship with each member of ASEAN, I believe we [Korea] will try to have a tailored approach fulfilling the needs of that specific country,” he told the Post.

The summit is the epitome of South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in’s New Southern Policy, by promoting cooperation with ASEAN in all areas based on the common and shared values of 3Ps: People, Prosperity and Peace.

Lim also said the commemorative summit would play a pivotal role in deciding on the targets for the next 30 years.

“The New Southern Policy will be the founding base for the policy’s 2.0 for the next 30 years,” he told a press conference in Busan later in the day.

“It [The summit] will be ASEAN-Korea 30-30, meaning what we have done in the past 30 years and what we will be doing in the next 30 years,” Suh said

Suh added that connectivity and peace in the Korean peninsula was likely to be discussed among the state leaders.

Lim had said earlier that apart from the issue of peace on the Korean peninsula, the summit would also discuss issues related to terrorism, extremism and cybersecurity, including discussions on government efforts to fight against transnational crime.

Lim said there would also be a joint statement from the 10 ASEAN leaders and Moon. “However, it is too early to say something about [what] the statement is about.”

With around a month to go to the summit, the organizers have yet to issue any statement regarding the attendance of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Moon had earlier said that “if Kim could attend, it would be an important element to the Summit”.

Suh said that the organizers would also prepare a “very meaningful spouse program for the first ladies”.

“And I would like to see the Indonesian First Lady [Iriana Joko Widodo] there,” he said.

The organizers hope that the festivities — with more than 40 side events around the year prior to the summit — will engage ordinary Korean people to attend these events.