Leaders of S. Korea, ASEAN agree to elevate ties to highest level

VIENTIANE, Laos -- South Korea and ASEAN inked the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Thursday, with ASEAN placing South Korea alongside superpowers such as the United States and China in the organization's hierarchy of diplomatic relationships.

South Korea has become the sixth country that ASEAN is in dialogue partnership with, after the United States, China, Japan, India and Australia. ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is comprised of 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"South Korea's diplomacy with ASEAN in focus will lead to the multidimensional, comprehensive cooperation with ASEAN, a partner for co-prosperity," President Yoon Suk Yeol said during the South Korea-ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos, Thursday.

Yoon also said the scope of cooperation between South Korea and ASEAN will expand to artificial intelligence, environment and smart cities. He also pledged strategic cooperation with ASEAN in the areas of defense equipment procurement and cybersecurity, as well as people-to-people exchanges.

In acknowledgement of the elevated ties, South Korea and ASEAN adopted a joint declaration Thursday. The document states that South Korea and ASEAN both “affirm the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea,” abiding by international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The declaration also recognized the need to promote “respect for international law and peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS.”

The 1982 UNCLOS served as a basis for, for example, an international arbitral tribunal in 2016 that unanimously ruled in favor of the Philippines over its territorial dispute with China concerning the South China Sea, while opposing China’s claims.

The declaration also maps out the blueprint for a “new era of deeper cooperation” in security, economic and sociocultural areas.

Notably, South Korea and ASEAN agreed to hold a ministerial-level meeting of defense ministers face-to-face, with the inaugural session in November. The two sides also agreed to enhance human resources and invest in educational, cultural and youth exchange programs to foster cross-cultural and educational opportunities.

Yoon arrived in Vientiane Wednesday night as part of the Southeast Asia tour he began Sunday.

The new diplomatic milestone was set 35 years after South Korea established formal ties with the association of Southeast Asian nations. Over time, the value of goods traded annually between South Korea and ASEAN member states grew 23 times to $187.2 billion, while the yearly people-to-people exchange surged 37 times to over 10 million from 1989 to 2023, according to the presidential office.

ASEAN, if combined, has become South Korea's second-largest trading partner and investment destination.

Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has sought to elevate diplomatic ties and build on the Strategic Partnership with ASEAN that Korea signed in 2010. In the meantime, Seoul launched the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative in 2023, following its bid to do so in 2022, to double Seoul's contribution to three regional cooperation funds in Southeast Asian countries during Yoon's five-year term ending in 2027.

Yoon also attended the ASEAN Plus Three summit on Thursday. The 10 ASEAN member states and three East Asian countries -- South Korea, Japan and China -- reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the financial safety net at the regional level through the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization, a regional currency swap arrangement totaling $240 billion. According to Seoul, South Korea has contributed $38.4 billion to the arrangement.

There, Yoon said the impetus for stronger ties of Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing, with the restoration of three-way talks in May after more than four years of hiatus, heralds ASEAN Plus Three summit's leap forward.

Yoon also held bilateral talks that same day on the sidelines of the summit with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.