By Honorary Reporter Jeanne.O from Indonesia

Photos= Jeanne.O 

The 2019 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-ROK (Republic of Korea) Commemorative Summit was held in late November in the beautiful port city of Busan. Many people visited Busan to attend the summit, and I and fellow Honorary Reporter from Indonesia Fitri Amalia arrived there on Nov. 24 to cover it.

The next day, we went to the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO), the summit's main venue, and spent a wonderfully informative day attending three events: the opening ceremony and the first session of the ASEAN-ROK Culture Innovation Summit (Nov. 25), the startup talk concert of the ASEAN-ROK Startup Expo (Nov. 25-26) and the ASEAN-ROK Smart City Fair (Nov. 25-27).

As a national of an ASEAN member country, I felt happy and honored to attend the summit. Though I only went to three events, I learned many lessons from them. As a newcomer to the summit, I felt exhilarated to soak it all in. In addition to the side events, I also observed the summit's organization. 

ASEAN-ROK Culture Innovation Summit

This summit was a celebration of cultural content as a driving force for economic growth with the aim of promoting cultural cooperation and common prosperity between ASEAN and Korea. The first part dealt with the success behind global K-pop phenomenon BTS and the world's leading streaming service Netflix. Bang Si-hyuk, CEO of BTS' management agency Big Hit Entertainment, and Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings were the speakers at the first session. Both stressed the utilization of technology as the key factor in their success.

Bang said that in the era of hyper connectivity and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, investment is needed in people who can prove the value of new technologies set to emerge in this era by creating content that speaks the words and caters to the interests of the audience. He mentioned the Live Aid concert in London 24 years ago as attesting to the value of live broadcasting via satellite technology, as well as BTS being proof of the power of YouTube in this new era.

Hastings shared how he developed his company from a DVD rental service via mail to an elite player in the internet entertainment market. By embracing streaming technology, Netflix expanded worldwide including to Korea and ASEAN, offering subtitles in 30 languages and full control to customers to choose what and when they want to watch, he said.

Along with my fellow Honorary Reporters Fitri from Indonesia and Pia from the Philippines and our Korea.net coordinator, we got to see President Moon Jae-in in person and up close, as we sat just two rows behind the VIP section.

ASEAN-ROK Startup Expo & Talk Concert

The ASEAN-ROK Startup Expo introduces smart home technology such as a robotic chef, robotic air purifier and smart TV.

The utilization of technology was also the main theme on the first day of the ASEAN-ROK Unicorn and Startup Talk Concert.

The first speaker was Victor Chua, founder of Vynn Capital and chairman of the Malaysian Venture Capital Association, who talked about the potential of Asian startups. He said Southeast Asia is a young and growing region whose mobile penetration rate has significantly outpaced growth in laptop sales. The increase in smartphone penetration is making mobile devices the new medium to reach customers, he added, thus corporations are looking at tech startups to form a strategic expansion path.

At the startup expo, facial recognition technology for use in public transportation and smart home technology stood out as the two most impressive things I saw there. I was really amazed by the former technology, which will allow people to pay subway fare simply by looking at a camera. The smart home technology also blew my mind with its robotic chef, which can perform tasks such as cooking through voice commands.

Security service robot Paro 

While Incheon International Airport has the Airstar robot, the ASEAN-ROK summit featured its own robot Paro. Though I had seen this kind of robot before, I still wanted to know what Paro could do, namely give visitors information on the summit venue in many languages. Visitors could also take a picture using the robot and send it to their email accounts. At night, this robot also served as a security guard.

Busan Tourism Organization booth

Honorary Reporters from Indonesia pose with their personalized calligraphy hand fans at the BTO booth.

The booth of the Busan Tourism Organization (BTO) welcomed visitors with a miniature of Gwangandaegyo Bridge, a famous city landmark, on the roof. Visitors could get information about Busan tourism, buy souvenirs, get a personalized traditional hand fan and vote for their favorite souvenirs at this booth. A free industrial tour was also offered by the BTO for visitors from ASEAN countries comprising visits to the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone and Renault-Samsung Motors Busan Plant on Day 1 and the Busan Traffic Information Center and Busan Environmental Corp. (Suyeong branch) on Day 2.

Something in front of the BTO booth caught my attention: a rack full of Dynamic Busan newspapers printed in many languages. This time, it was a special issue for the ASEAN-ROK summit published in English and the 10 languages of the ASEAN region. 

The special issue for the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit of the Dynamic Busan newspaper is available in English and the 10 languages of ASEAN member countries.

Media Center and kit 

Media kits are distributed to foreign journalists at the summit

The Media Center of BEXCO provided great support for journalists at the summit. I was really impressed with the halal food section at the cafeteria as well as the prayer room.

The media kit consisted of a backpack and useful booklets and guides. Foreign journalists also received a massive media package.