S Korea, ASEAN Agree to Establish Strategic Partnership

South Korea and the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Sunday agreed towork for upgrade bilateral ties from the current comprehensive cooperative partnership to a strategic partnership, South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.

The decision came at a summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and the leaders of the ASEAN in the eastern Thai coast resort of Hua Hin.

During the summit, Lee and the 10 leaders of ASEAN countries exchanged views on ways to strengthen the South Korea-ASEAN relations.

Establishing a South Korea-ASEAN strategic partnership will significantly boost their diplomatic ties along with the economic cooperation, which the two sides has agreed to promote by signing a free trade deal on investment in June, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.

They also reviewed the implementation of a joint statement adopted by the two sides at their special summit at Jeju, a South Korean resort island, in June, and made joint assessment on development cooperation, low-carbon green growth and cultural and human exchanges between the two sides, Cheong Wa Dae said.

On the issues concerning low-carbon green growth, Lee said his country will assign half of a 200 million U.S. dollar fund – East Asia Climate Partnership -- to help strengthen the cooperation with the countries in the region.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Later in the afternoon, Lee attended the ASEAN Plus Three summit, which also involves China and Japan.

The 13 leaders discussed major global issues such as the global economic crisis, climate change, and food and energy security.

During the summit, Lee presented the outcome of the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh and called for international cooperation to overcome the global economic and financial crisis.

He also urged efforts to launch the 120-billion-U.S. dollar Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) to combat regional financial crisis, Cheong Wa Dae said.

Lee arrived in Thailand on Friday after visited Vietnam and Cambodia.

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