What ASEM means to South Korea

What ASEM means to South Korea

SEOUL: The third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), attended by leaders from 25 nations in Asia and Europe and the European Union Commission, was opened in Seoul on Friday. Coming just as they emerge from their worst-ever economic crisis -- one that entailed huge costs and sacrifice -- Koreans have high expectations of this meeting, the largest diplomatic event ever to be hosted by the country. We hope the Seoul ASEM, above all, will help Koreans boost the international credibility of their economy.

Although being hailed as embodying one of the most successful cases of overcoming the Asian financial crisis, the Korean economy is facing many challenges, both inside and out. The outlook for the economy is gloomy, with the second round of restructuring in the financial and corporate sectors still under way.

Such outside factors as the high international price of crude oil and the falling price of semiconductors also make serious ripples in the recovering economy. We Koreans hope that the Asian and European leaders will be able to renew their understanding about Korea while they attend the ASEM in Seoul.

The Seoul session of ASEM means even more to Koreans as it is held in the midst of historic reconciliation between South and North. Since the June summit between the leaders of the two Koreas, the once reclusive Communist North Korea is quickly moving toward changing its relationships with Western countries.

One of the most noticeable examples of such efforts is the move to improve ties with the United States, which looks like it will soon bear fruit.

While the new relations between Seoul and Pyongyang and between Pyongyang and Washington are believed to contribute to reducing the possibility of another war on the Korean Peninsula, there also are increasing uncertainties in political situations on the peninsula.

We expect ASEM leaders to extend their full support for South- North reconciliation, which we believe is essential to the formation of a new political order on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia.

The session also comes on the heels of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Kim Dae-jung. We hope that his winning of this prestigious award has helped the world leaders enhance their interest in Korean issues.

The third ASEM in Seoul, we believe, also bears special significance for the future development of this body that tries to link these two major regions in the world -- Asia and Europe. The ASEM was born four years ago with the aim of increasing cooperation in political, economic, cultural and other fields between the two regions.

The first session in Bangkok in 1996 was largely a place where the member countries defined the framework of their cooperation. The second session in London in 1998 had to be dominated by the financial crisis that hit Asia in 1997.

Now that the Asian members have overcome the crisis to a certain degree, we expect the ASEM countries to start full-scale discussions on the detailed framework of cooperation and the future of the body in this Seoul session. ASEM is a new experiment in inter-regional cooperation. Asia and Europe share fewer commonalities than Europe and America, and Asia and America do.

In order to overcome the possible conflicts deriving from differences in cultures and values as well as the level of economic development, member countries are required to exert extraordinary efforts, whose success, in fact, will direct the success of ASEM. We hope that the member countries will lay firm groundwork for future cooperation between Asia and Europe during the Seoul meeting.

Another important aspect of ASEM, to Korea and many other Asian countries, is that it can help them to diversify international relations.

The geographic location of Korea, surrounded by three -- counting the strong influence of the United States, four -- major world powers, has inevitably made the country concentrate on diplomacy toward these countries for a long time.

While good relations with the four big powers still remain critical to Korea economically and politically, the necessity to diversify relations has been continuously raised. ASEM is certainly the very mechanism that will help Korea and its Asian neighbors to widen their diplomatic scope beyond Asia and the Pacific.

-- The Korea Herald / Asia News Network