PRESIDENT LEAVES FOR SOUTH KOREA TO ATTEND ASEAN-KOREA SUMMIT

Jakarta, May 31 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, left for Jeju island, South Korea, to attend the ASEAN-South Korea heads of state/government meeting to commemorate the ASEAN-South Korea relations.

The president and entourage including Communications and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh, who travelled by an Airbus 330 special flight was seen off at Halim Perdanakusumah airport by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his wife Mufidah Kalla and a number of cabinet ministers, among others, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Sri Mulyani, Coordinating Minister for Security Affairs Widodo AS, and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie.

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said here Sunday that the high-level meeting which will take place on June 1-2 was the 20th anniversary of the ASEAN and South Korea relations to be attended by the heads of state and heads of government of the 10 ASEAN member countries and South Korea.

"The presence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the
ASEAN-Republic of Korea Summit, shows that South Korea
is an important and strategic partner to ASEAN countries
especially Indonesia," Dino said.

In addition to attend the summit at the Jeju International Convention Center, president Yudhoyono's activities in the resort Island will include a bilateral meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung-bak and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen
Tam Dung, he said, adding that Yudhoyono will return home on Tuesday (June 2) noon.

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

ASEAN and South Korea started dialogue ties in November 1989. South Korea then got the status as a full Dialogue Partner of ASEAN 24th ministerial-level meeting on July 1991 in Kuala Lumpur.

In 1997 ASEAN-South Korea relations rose to the high level meeting.

ASEAN and South Korea had signed a number of agreements such as "Joint Declaration on Comprehensive Cooperation
Partnership" at the ASEAN-South Korea 8th Summit on November 30, 2004 in Vientiane and an adoption of ASEAN-South Korea's action plan
to implement the "Joint Declaration" at the ASEAN-South Korea's 9th Summit on December 13, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur.

The action plan covered the cooperation in the field of political and security, and economic, integration of ASEAN region, the social and cultural exchange program, regional and international cooperation, cooperation in facing various global issues, and deepening cooperation in East Asia.

In addition, both sides cooperation also covered the political and security fields like to opening the access on "Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), "Minister Level meeting on
ASEAN-South Korea on November 27, 2004 in Vientiane.

ASEAN-South Korea also supported an efforts to create "Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN)" and the nuclear-free zone in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN also supported efforts in the framework of South Korea Six-Party Talks to settle the nuclear problems in North Korea peacefully.

In an effort to handle the terrorism problem, the ASEAN-South Korea had signed a "Joint Declaration for Cooperation to
Combat International Terrorism" in July 2005 at the ASEAN 38th ministerial meeting in Vientiane.

The ASEAN-South Korea's economic cooperation and trade relations has very well run and the amount of trade volume has increased significantly, the spokesman said.

In the last five years, the ASEAN-South Korea's trade volume has doubled from US$46.4 billion in 2004 to us$90.2 billion dollars in 2008, he added. ***1***