19 December 2014 – South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se praised the Philippines in a rare meeting with Seoul-based ASEAN ambassadors at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on December 16 for its role in helping ensure the success of the recently concluded ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in Busan.
Foreign Minister Yun called for the special afternoon meeting to assess the Summit results with eight ASEAN ambassadors, including Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez, and two deputy chiefs of mission only days after the conclusion of the two-day event in Busan on December 12 and the last of three state and official visits by ASEAN leaders in Seoul.
“This landmark occasion was accomplished in no small way thanks to the wonderful team of ASEAN ambassadors, your great solidarity and the excellent chairmanship here,” he said, referring to Ambassador Hernandez, who currently heads the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS).
Foreign Minister Yun opened the meeting by calling ASEAN “a most important partner”, which he called the “G5” or fifth most important foreign policy partner following Korea’s allies and neighbors the United States, China, Japan and Russia. He also jested that Korea feels close enough to Southeast Asian partners to consider itself ASEAN’s “11th member”.
“The Summit was a very rare success story in recent years,” Foreign Minister Yun said, adding that “most of the credit belongs to you in ASEAN, who have worked tirelessly” with Korea to ensure its successful hosting. He said President Park Geun-hye instructed him to ask the ACS to “convey to your respective leaders her deepest gratitude”.
In response, Ambassador Hernandez thanked Foreign Minister Yun for the host government’s “excellent arrangements as well as your warm and generous hospitality”. He made special mention of the responsiveness of the delegation liaison officers (DLOs) assigned to each ASEAN country as well as the productive and substantive outcome of the summit as evidenced in the final joint statement, which “covered all aspects of our relations”.
Ambassador Hernandez added that he hoped that the Summit “would further enhance and promote the strategic partnership between ASEAN and Korea for benefit of both peoples”.
The ambassadors of Brunei, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, as well as the deputy heads of mission of Indonesia and Thailand then took turns to praise the logistical and substantive preparations and arrangements for the Summit.
Foreign Minister Yun recalled how the participants in a Cabinet meeting led by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won earlier that day were “very happy” over the Summit results, which “reawakened the prospects of Korea’s relations with ASEAN”. He called the Summit “an unprecedented occasion in public diplomacy” for the Korean public, given the three-week media focus.
He said he intended to report to President Park later that day that he had completed his “key mandate” of successfully organizing South Korea’s Summit hosting, the first in President Park’s term. END