(Unofficial Translation)

The ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit and the Mekong-Republic of Korea Summit were concluded successfully. I am deeply grateful to the ASEAN leaders who put their hearts and minds together to usher in a future of peace and common prosperity. My appreciation also goes to government ministries and agencies as well as the Busan Metropolitan Government and relevant organizations for exerting their best efforts to make the events a success. The general public showed great interest and joined together, and I am especially thankful to the people of Busan who actively cooperated while enduring numerous inconveniences. Thanks to them, the visiting leaders and guests could return home with warm hearts.

These two summits made Korea-ASEAN relations even closer and deeper. Friendship and trust among the ASEAN leaders visiting Busan solidified so much that they spoke with one voice in expressing their gratitude. It was also possible to achieve real progress in cooperation on all fronts, including the economy, society, culture, peace, security and foreign affairs. Importantly, this is very significant for diplomatic and trade diversification, one of our national tasks.

Korea and ASEAN member states agreed to expand bilateral FTA networks in addition to the existing Korea-ASEAN FTA and Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership. We also reached an agreement to enhance the scope and scale of economic cooperation in all fields, ranging from manufacturing to cutting-edge science and technology industries; finance; smart cities; such infrastructure as roads, railroads and ports; agriculture; the maritime and fishing industry; startups; and SMEs.

Notably, for the first time in history, a separate multilateral summit was held with the Mekong countries that are spearheading the growth of ASEAN. We confirmed that sharing an unbridled future together will only become possible when the Mekong nations’ potential is combined with Korea’s experience. We also agreed to step up cooperation by holding the summit annually from now on. 

The more people come and go, the stronger the roots of Korea-ASEAN relations will become. We agreed to expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges as well as cooperation – namely improved visa systems, increased flights, enhanced youth exchanges and Korean language education, support for multicultural families and public security collaboration.

It is also very meaningful to have held a separate program to discuss specific issues related to the Korean Peninsula for the first time in the 30 years of Korea-ASEAN dialogue relations. ASEAN leaders unanimously supported our Government’s efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula and our plan to transform the Demilitarized Zone into an international peace zone. ASEAN’s support will provide reliable strength to the Korean Peninsula peace process. In addition, our agreement to further strengthen cooperation in national defense and the defense industry as well as in responses to conventional and non-conventional security threats will be of significant help to our security and national interests.

The New Southern Policy is now on the right track, and our cooperation with ASEAN will be expanded and deepened further. ASEAN’s dynamism and growth potential will bring us new opportunities, and our experiences and commitment will help bolster ASEAN’s achievements.

What I’d like to emphasize in particular is that ASEAN is not a mere counterpart for cooperation but a friend to live with and a partner for mutual prosperity. It will become even more important to our future generations.
I’d like to underscore once again that the greatest driving force behind the New Southern Policy and the strongest power to bring ASEAN and Korea together can be found in respect, consideration and understanding. 
 
What remains to be done now is to develop the two pillars – the New Southern and Northern policies – together while further advancing the New Southern Policy based on the achievements to date. Our future depends on this undertaking. I ask the people to show greater interest and support.

The last regular session of the 20th National Assembly is in a state of paralysis. It is a very regrettable situation unfolding at a time when legislative activities and budget planning should be coming to fruition. The operation of the 20th Assembly has consistently been crippled. The deplorable politics that places political strife before the people’s livelihood and prioritizes self-serving partisan politics over the people has caused normal politics to wither away. 

It’s hard for the people and myself not to worry about the fact that laws intended to advance the National Assembly are instead being abused to hold back political advances. Bills that are undoubtedly necessary for the public good are being reduced to bargaining chips in connection to political issues, which is totally unacceptable. At a time when parents are lamenting the loss of their children in heartbreaking safety-related traffic accidents, we should not be making them desperately cry out, “Don’t use our children as bargaining chips.” The Assembly should take the poignant cries of their parents to heart. 

Each and every bill connected to the people’s lives and safety, as well as for their livelihoods and the economy, is vital for them. I earnestly plead with the Assembly to show concern about the people and pass the bills as soon as possible rather than make the people worry about the legislature itself. In particular, I sincerely hope that they will now stop the political maneuvering that ties even non-contentious bills to political strife. 

Today is the legally mandated deadline for the Assembly to process the budget plan. However, this time yet again, the deadline will not be met. An Assembly charged to legislate is repeatedly breaking laws because it cannot abide by them. The national budget can have a far-reaching impact on our economy and the lives of the people. If the processing of the bill is delayed, it becomes difficult to effectively disburse funds from the budget. I urge the National Assembly to pool their efforts and pass the budget plan as quickly as possible if for no other reason than to strengthen the efforts to overcome internal and external challenges, inject vitality into the public and businesses’ recently rekindled economic sentiment and accelerate economic recovery.