Korea-ASEAN Relations and New Northeast Policy

• Date & Time : Tuesday, 27 November, 2018, 12:00-13:00
• Speaker : Ambassador Young-sun Kim (SNUAC)
• Chair/Discussant : Dr. Kyunghee Choi (SNUAC)
• Place : Room #406, SNUAC(Bldg#101)
• Organizer : SNUAC
• Inquiry : Heejin Choi / +82-2-880-2693 / heejinchoi@snu.ac.kr

Young-sun Kim is a visiting research fellow at SNUAC and currently is conducting research on Korea-ASEAN relations and Southeast Asian politics. He served as the South Korean Ambassador to Indonesia and is the former secretary general at ASEAN-Korea Centre. He majored in Political Science(B.A.) at SNU and received his master’s degree in Political Science at Keio University. He currently writes a series of column in the Korea Economic Daily.

The ninth Asia Square Brown Bag Seminar invited Young-sun Kim who is a former ambassador and currently is a visiting research fellow at SNUAC on the topic of Korea-ASEAN relations and the New Southern Policy. The seminar began with a brief introduction to ASEAN and Korea’s New Southern Policy. Researcher Kim examined the dynamic history of ASEAN since its foundation in 1967 to year 2019 which marks the 30^th anniversary of the Korea-ASEAN dialogue partnership, emphasizing the significance of ASEAN for its geopolitical importance.

Researcher Kim observed the congruency between ASEAN identity ‘Unity in Diversity’ and ‘ASEAN Way’ with the New Southern Policy initiated by President Moon Jae-in’s administration. Discussions on the New Southern Policy’s ‘3P strategy’ (people, prosperity, peace) and the 16 tasks followed afterward. Researcher Kim highlighted that the New Southern Policy secured a viable system which is different from past policies, nevertheless, he continued to mention its limitations. The need for comparative research on middle-power Korea’s New Southern Policy and other major nations’ foreign policies within the context of shifting dynamics of regional order was discussed. The seminar concluded with Researcher Kim’s proposal for consistent and sustainable national policy embodying mid- and long-term goals which ultimately will contribute towards peace and prosperity in East Asia.