President Rodrigo Duterte of the Republic of the Philippines will make an official visit to Korea June 3-5 at the invitation of President Moon Jae-in.

The Philippines and the Republic of Korea established diplomatic ties in 1949 shortly after the establishment of the Korean Government, making it the first ASEAN member state to do so. It made noble sacrifices during the Korean War to safeguard freedom and democracy and has maintained traditionally friendly relations with Korea.

On June 4, President Moon will hold a summit with President Duterte, which will be followed by an official dinner. At the summit, the two Presidents are expected to have in-depth discussions on ways to deepen friendly and cooperative relations between the two nations as well as to enhance substantive collaboration in various areas, including trade, investment, infrastructure, national defense and the defense industry, agriculture, development cooperation and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. In doing so, it is projected that they will expand the foundation for developing bilateral relations in a more mutually beneficial and forward-looking manner. 

The summit between the two leaders is their second since they met last November on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Manila, the Philippines, which was the chair country of the multilateral meeting. President Duterte is the first head of state from the ASEAN nations to visit Korea since President Moon’s inauguration.

One of the Korean Government’s priorities is expanding cooperation with ASEAN nations as part of the New Southern Policy. The promotion of the Policy is expected to accelerate with the visit by the Philippine President, following President Moon’s visit to Vietnam in March.