Chile backs S. Korea’s Pacific Alliance membership bid

South Korean President Moon Jae-in formalized Seoul’s bid to become an associate member of the Pacific Alliance during talks here with his Chilean counterpart, Sebastian Pinera, Monday.

The visiting president agreed to “actively cooperate” with South Korea on the issue, as his country is slated to serve as the rotating chair of the Latin American trade bloc -- which also includes three other full-time members: Colombia, Mexico and Peru -- starting in the latter half of this year, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

Seoul is among more than 50 observers to the alliance, launched in 2012, with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore serving as associate members.

The bloc accounts for 38 percent of the total gross domestic product of Central and Latin America and 50 percent of the region’s trade.

Pinera also pledged “unswerving support” for South Korea’s efforts to achieve the complete denuclearization of Korea and permanent peace, Cheong Wa Dae said.

The leaders agreed to expand economic cooperation between their countries, especially in the infrastructure and information and communication technology sectors.

They took note of closer partnership potential over the “fourth industrial revolution,” e-government, cybersecurity and climate change.

Chile plans to host a UN climate summit, known as COP25, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in its capital, Santiago, later this year.

On the occasion of the Moon-Pinera summit, the two sides signed a pact on defense cooperation and three memorandums of understanding meant to deepen partnerships on e-government and transportation as well as big data, 5G and artificial intelligence.

Chile is South Korea’s first free trade agreement partner. Two-way trade volume quadrupled to $6.28 billion last year from $1.57 billion in 2003 before the agreement took effect.

Pinera arrived here Sunday for a two-day state visit after attending the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.

He’s the first leader of a Latin American country to visit South Korea since the launch of the Moon administration.

In 2004, the two nations forged a “comprehensive, cooperative” partnership when then-President Roh Moo-hyun traveled to Santiago.

Moon and Pinera had one-on-one summit talks in New York last September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

The Chilean president made his previous trip to Seoul in 2012 for the Nuclear Security Summit. (Yonhap)