President Park Geun-hye held summit talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia to discuss measures to extend cooperation, on December 10 in Busan. They exchanged opinions on the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit, cooperation both in the region and on the international stage, issues involving the Korean Peninsula and other regional issues, such as Korea’s Northeast Asia peace and cooperation initiatives.

During the Korea-Vietnam summit, President Park and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung declared the conclusion of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries. The free trade negotiations between Korea and Vietnam reached conclusion after 28 months, making Vietnam Korea’s 15th FTA partner.



In regard to issues involving the Korean Peninsula, President Park expressed concern over North Korea, as Pyongyang has ignored the requests of the international community and has stuck to accelerating its nuclear weapons program. She hoped that North Korea would be able to follow the path of change like Vietnam has done, becoming a country that has carried out reforms, achieved economic growth and become an exemplary model of a former socialist state under the Doi Moi Policy.

The Vietnamese prime minister emphasized the importance of solving the North Korean nuclear issues in a peaceful manner, such as through inter-Korean dialogue and boosted cooperation. He also vowed to support and to cooperate with Seoul on its efforts in this regard.



President Park held a summit meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on the same day to discuss measures to bolster bilateral cooperation in various sectors, including trade, infrastructure, construction, defense, education, culture, education, healthcare and tourism.

President Park told the Malaysian leader that, “Korea and Malaysia forged a special relationship thanks to Malaysia's Look East Policy of the early 1980s. Since then, the two countries have developed their relationship by becoming an important cooperation partner for each other in various sectors. I hope that both countries can deepen and advance their cooperation partnership through this summit.”

“Malaysia's economic development is expected to offer greater possibility to boost bilateral cooperation between the two countries,” said President Park, making special note of Malaysia's National Transformation Programme and its long-term future vision, “Vision 2020,” which Prime Minister Najib has been carrying out.

The Malaysian prime minister responded by saying that, “The Korea-Malaysia relationship has been based on very solid economic cooperation. We will further deepen that cooperation and expand it to wider sectors.”

In regard to trade and investment, Prime Minister Najib praised the fact that Korean firms have been producing a wonderful outcome by winning large-scale construction orders, and by displaying prowess in the high technology sector. He hoped that more Korean enterprises would be able to penetrate the Malaysian market, as Korea is Malaysia’s second largest trade partner. The Malaysian leader illustrated this strengthened cooperation by mentioning that the growth of annual trade volume recently hit 7.9 percent over the past 10 months, just under twice the average growth rate of 4 or 5 percent in the past.

In line with the current Look East Policy 2.0, a cooperation policy which Malaysia has been carrying out, the two leaders agreed to set up an economic cooperation committee in order to expand bilateral cooperation on not only business, trade and investment, but also on new sectors, including, tourism, education, science and technology.

President Park expressed hope that additional negotiations for the liberalization of the Korea-ASEAN FTA would reach agreement by next year thanks to the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit. Prime Minister Najib responded that he will consider Korea’s request and review the additional negotiations for the liberalization of the Korea-ASEAN FTA in the future.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Cheong Wa Dae
arete@korea.kr