1. The Republic of Korea and the 10-member ASEAN will hold their Dialogue in Busan on June 19. The ASEAN-ROK Dialogue is the bilateral consultative mechanism between their high-level officials that reviews the progress in and discuss ways to promote the ASEAN-ROK cooperation in various fields, including politics, security, economy, society and culture. The Dialogue has been held seventeen times since the establishment of the ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Partnership in 1989.

° The meeting will bring together Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo of the ROK Foreign Ministry and Director-General for ASEAN Cooperation Agung Puja of the Foreign Ministry of Indonesia, the Country Coordinator for ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations; vice- and/or deputy-ministerial-level officials as well as the Ambassadors of the ten ASEAN member states to the ROK; and the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political Security Community.

2. At the 18th ASEAN-ROK Dialogue, the participants will discuss preparations for the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit to take place in the ROK in December to mark the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Partnership. Also on the agenda will be ways to work together to further upgrade their bilateral relations ahead of the envisioned launch of the ASEAN Community in 2015.

3. In particular, for the first time since the establishment of the ASEAN-ROK Dialogue, a separate dialogue on security will take place in conjunction with the Dialogue to seek ways to step up bilateral cooperation in politics and security. An exchange of views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and other key issues concerning regional security is expected to help deepen bilateral cooperation in politics and security and boost their strategic partnership.

° At the forthcoming security meeting, the two sides, in view of the close connection between the security in Northeast and Southeast Asias amid the changing global situation, will affirm their cooperation on the North Korean nuclear issue, the biggest security threat in the region.

- In this vein, the ROK government takes note of the fact that at the ASEAN Summit in May, with regard to the North Korean nuclear issue, ASEAN highlighted the need to thoroughly fulfill the obligations under all the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the commitments under the September 19, 2005 Joint Statement.

4. The upcoming ASEAN-ROK Dialogue will mark the beginning of the series of upcoming bilateral meetings, including the ASEAN-ROK Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in November and the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in December. The ROK government will seek to continue dialogue and cooperation with ASEAN, one of the ROK’s key partners in the region, with a view to building “a partnership toward trust and happiness” as announced by President Park Geun-hye at the ASEAN-ROK summit in 2013. 


                   Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation