The 2019 Asean-Rok Summit was held on November 25th and 26th at BEXCO, Busan. The leaders of 10 ASEAN countries and the secretary general Le Luong Minh attended to exchange opinions on Rok-ASEAN 30&30 (first session) and Sustainable Prosperity (second session). 

The attendees agreed that ROK (Republic of Korea) and the ASEAN expands people to people and cultural exchanges, endeavor to create people-centered communities, simplify visa procedures and improve existing systems including free aviation. 

In preparation for the 4th industrial revolution, they agreed to work together for standardization of science technology cooperation center which is to form and for strengthening startup partnership. At the end of the event, the leaders signed ASEAN-ROK Joint Vision for Peace, Prosperity and Partnership. 

1ST MEKONG-ROK SUMMIT

The 1st Mekong-Rok Summit was held on November 27 at Nurimaru APEC House, Busan. Co-hosed by President Moon and Thai Prime Minister Prayut, the leaders of 5 countries bordered the Mekong River checked on the fruits of cooperation and its future direction.

Moon praised the yearly 6% economic growth of the Mekong region and South Korea and Mekong were the core partners of the ASEAN-ROK cooperation; and reminded the 3 measures of the ROK-Mekong Vision brought up when he visited Laos last September: Prosperity from Shared Experience, Sustainable Growth, and Peace and Co-Growth of East Asia. 

At the end of the meeting, the leaders adopted the ROK-MEKONG Declaration wishing the Miracle of the Han River leads to the Miracle of the Mekong. The declaration includes 7 fields of cooperation including culture, tourism and manpower development alongside a regular meeting.

ROK-VIETNAM SUMMIT

President Moon and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen had a summit at the Blue House on November 27 and signed a number of agreements and MOUs that will bring substantial cooperation and strengthened friendship. 

ROK-MALAYSIA SUMMIT

President Moon and Malay Prime Minister Mahathir had a summit on November 28. Moon pointed out the 60th years of diplomatic ties between the two countries next year and praised the bilateral trade volume of the last year that reached $20 billion alongside 1 million visitors each other. 

Moon said that the Malaysia’s Northern Policy and the South Korea’s Southern Policy seem to go well with and that they were expanding the cooperation in the field of smart city and halal industry, adding that he hoped to bring it also to ICT, defense and health industries. Mahathir in response said that the ASEAN-ROK SUMMIT was successful and he would like to learn many from South Korea’s experience in rapid development. The two leaders signed 4 MOUs at the end of the meeting.