SEOUL, 6 August 2014 – Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez joined his fellow ASEAN ambassadors in a luncheon hosted by Minister of Security and Public Administration (MOSPA) Chong Jong-sup at Lotte Hotel on Wednesday, 6 August 2014 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the ASEAN-Korea dialogue relations.

“The Republic of Korea has been a steadfast and faithful partner to ASEAN in the last 25 years, as I am sure will be so in the next 25 years,” Ambassador Hernandez said in his remarks as current chair of the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS). “We all believe in this partnership and believe in the strength of this country.”

“For this reason, we are heartened to note that the government is taking strong and comprehensive measures to guarantee its role in protecting and ensuring the well-being of its people,” he said, referring to the Korean government’s overall reform strategy to win back public support and add new impetus to the economic growth.

Ambassador Hernandez cited the growing relations between ASEAN and Korea, with ASEAN maintaining its position as Korea’s biggest trading partner after China. In people-to-people exchanges, almost one-third of the total 15 million Koreans who travel overseas visit ASEAN. More ASEAN citizens travelled to Korea in 2013 than in 2012.

“We can all imagine what those stats mean in human terms: greater contact means more familiarity, which in turn means better relations,” he emphasized.

Ambassador Hernandez also expressed confidence in Minister Chong, who long served as a constitutional scholar at Seoul National University before his appointment by President Park Geun-hye just last month, leading a a new and reformed Home Ministry that would lead to wide-ranging changes in public administration.

Minister Chong informed ASEAN ambassadors about the Korean government’s plans to hold side events during the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit due to be held in Busan on 11-12 December 2014.

South Korea was the first Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN in 1989, becoming a full dialogue partner two years later in July 1991. On the 15rh anniversary, ASEAN and South Korea issued a Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation Partnership in 2004, the same year South Korea acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.