(Unofficial Translation)

Honorable Chair, Excellencies,

It’s a pleasure to see you all again in good health.

Prime Minister Kishida, I extend my warmest welcome to you. 

The ASEAN+3 Summit is soon to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Having come together in our collective response to the East Asian financial crisis, we have worked in various areas over the last 24 years, overcoming numerous crises and turning them into opportunities for new takeoffs, thereby emerging into a region that accounts for 30 percent of the world’s population and economy. 

Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ASEAN and the plus three countries – Korea, China and Japan – have introduced the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund and the ASEAN Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies, thereby cooperating with one another in a very timely and efficient manner. 

Now, to surmount the pandemic and achieve an inclusive recovery, it is time to put the founding spirit of the ASEAN+3 Summit into action. First, our health-related cooperation, including the fight against COVID-19, must be urgently enhanced. Korea has pledged US$200 million to COVAX and, on top of this, began donating vaccine doses to ASEAN member states this month. Last year, Korea committed US$1 million to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund, and this year, will pledge an additional US$5 million. Moving forward as well, Korea, as a global vaccine production hub, will remain firmly committed to ensuring an equitable and timely distribution of vaccines. 

Korea supports the Leaders’ Statement on Cooperation on Mental Health amongst Adolescents and Young Children which was adopted at the initiative of Brunei’s Chairmanship. To ensure that adolescents and young children who are experiencing depression due to COVID-19 can access universal health care, Korea will enthusiastically participate in establishing a relevant regional coordination mechanism. 

Korea will cooperate actively for inclusive and sustainable growth as well. We are looking for ways to ensure that the seven key areas of cooperation within the New Southern Policy Plus strategy that was unveiled last year align organically with the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework. Korea will scale up its official development assistance especially in the areas of climate change responses, digitalization and healthcare to stand together with ASEAN as it transitions to a digital economy and tackles the climate crisis. 

The ASEAN+3 Cooperation Work Plan 2023-2027 will be finalized soon. Korea will also actively participate to make sure that fully incorporated within it are relevant measures for regional cooperation that are meant to end the pandemic, build an inclusive recovery and achieve sustainable growth. 

We can build back better when we come together. The experiences that ASEAN+3 have accumulated over the last 24 years through solidarity and cooperation are invaluable assets that will help us build back better together. I hope this summit will prove to be a beacon of hope for an East Asia and entire world that aspire to usher in an era of shared prosperity and inclusiveness. 

Thank you.