SEOUL, April 1 (NNN- Yonhap) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with the leaders of 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries in November, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also possibly in attendance, Moon’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The special South Korea-ASEAN summit will be held in South Korea’s port city of Busan, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, on Nov. 25-26. It will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the dialogue relationship between South Korea and ASEAN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“As the largest international conference to be held in our country since the launch of the incumbent administration, the summit is expected to review the development of South Korea-ASEAN relations over the past 30 years and suggest a new vision for development in the next 30 years,” Yoon Do-han, the senior secretary to the president for public relations, told a press briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Cheong Wa Dae official later said the two-day summit in Busan may also involve the North Korean leader, noting some ASEAN countries have already proposed inviting Kim to the rare occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The country will begin consultations with ASEAN countries based on such proposal, and depending on the outcome of their consultations, the country may invite Chairman Kim Jong-un,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moon has often highlighted the importance of ASEAN countries in efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons, noting all 10 ASEAN member states have diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moon and Kim have held three bilateral summits, with their latest meeting held in Pyongyang in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim has promised to visit South Korea for their fourth bilateral summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 10-member ASEAN is also at the center of Moon’s New Southern Policy that seeks to boost South Korea’s economic and diplomatic ties with Southeast Asian countries, including India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ASEAN countries already make up South Korea’s second-largest trade partner, with bilateral trade between the country and the 10 ASEAN countries reaching a record high of US$160 billion in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seoul seeks to increase the two-way trade with ASEAN to $200 billion by 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The South Korea-ASEAN summit will be followed by a separate meeting on Nov. 27, involving the leaders of five ASEAN countries located around the Mekong River that are also the fastest growing economies in the region, according to Yoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The five Mekong countries are Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL, April 1 (NNN- Yonhap) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with the leaders of 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries in November, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also possibly in attendance, Moon’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Monday. The special South Korea-ASEAN summit will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":16512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17538"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}