South Korea Supports The Establishment Of 10-Member ASEAN Economic Community, Says Korean Ambassador Kim Young Sun

Korean Ambassador Kim Young Sun says South Korea is "supportive of the efforts of ASEAN to form the ASEAN region into one community," as reported by Manila Bulletin on Sunday.

"The ASEAN community aims to establish it as a political and security entity that is peaceful. Economic dimension will establish the one single market and production base," Kim tells reporters in a forum at Seoul. "We are very much interested in the efforts of ASEAN countries in the process of realization of ASEAN Community."

Kim also adds Korea and ASEAN have also adopted a plan of action to foster their relations.

"Our focus is, for example, narrowing the development gap among ASEAN countries members, which is a very important factor in the process of economic community. We worked out the official mechanism of integration like more liberalization in free trade agreements and the capacity and institution building," Kim says.

Kim is the secretary general of ASEAN-Korea Centre in Seoul, an international organization founded in 2009. He became the third secretary general of the organization on March 13 via unanimous vote during the 7th Annual Council Meeting of the ASEAN-Korea Centre.

"ASEAN as a regional cooperation entity has been very successful in many aspects. You successfully achieved solidarity among ASEAN member countries. You have this advantage of the ASEAN organization to effectively deal with non-ASEAN countries," Kim adds, noting that the important things "are close cooperation, coordination and collaboration among themselves."

He also says that economic integration has both positive and negative sides.

"Positive means it will provide tremendous opportunities for closer cooperation. On the other side, the ASEAN community as the venue for economic cooperation brings more competitive relations with each other. Apparently, each member state welcomes the emergence of economic community social-cultural community."

He goes on, "But I guess, on the other hand, each member country has some concerns on how to deal with the emergence of a new community. Without close coordination and concerted efforts, the benefits or merits of one community will not be [possible]."

Meanwhile, Dato' Sri Mustapa Mohamed chaired the 47th Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers that was held on August 22 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 10 members of the ASEAN Economic Community is set to be announced before the year ends, Xinhua Net noted on August 21.

The announcement will be based on three pillars which include: political-security community, economic community and socio- cultural community.