Yoon Suk-yeol leaves Friday for Phnom Penh, Bali

Politics

Published: 09 Nov. 2022, 16:21

Yoon Suk-yeol leaves Friday for Phnom Penh, Bali

National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han talks to reporters about President Yoon Suk-yeol's six-day trip to attend Asean-related meetings in Cambodia and the G20 in Indonesia, at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Wednesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk-yeol will depart on a six-day trip to Cambodia and Indonesia Friday.

Yoon will stay in Phnom Penh for three days and meet with leaders of the 10 member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and other regional partners, said National Security Adviser Kim Sung-han in a press briefing Wednesday. He will be accompanied by first lady Kim Keon-hee.

Yoon will attend a South Korea-Asean summit on Friday, an Asean Plus Three summit on Saturday and the East Asia Summit (EAS). Cambodia is the chair of this year's Asean meetings.

During the South Korea-Asean summit, Yoon is expected to describe his Indo-Pacific strategy, which will focus on "freedom, peace, and prosperity," and Seoul's new initiative for solidarity with the Asean bloc, said Kim.

Yoon will also meet with Korean residents in Cambodia.

On Saturday, Yoon will join Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping for the Asean Plus Three summit, a venue to discuss cooperation among Asean and its East Asian partners, South Korea, Japan and China. The Asean plus three group dates to 1997 and was a joint response to the Asian financial crisis.

Later Saturday, Yoon will attend a dinner hosted by Cambodia.

On Sunday, Yoon will attend the EAS, which will bring together other regional leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, to discuss major security issues. Other participants include the leaders of Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and Russia.

Yoon is also expected to hold bilateral summits with the leaders of Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines on the sidelines of the Asean meetings.

Over the past half year, the Yoon administration has been working on an Indo-Pacific strategy. The Joe Biden government's Indo-Pacific strategy has a vision or working with allies and partners to achieve a "free and open" Indo-Pacific that is more "connected, prosperous, secure and resilient," and keep in check the rise of China.

"President Yoon's participation in the Asean-related summits is meaningful in terms of presenting Korea's own specialized Indo-Pacific strategy," said Kim. "By fitting together the puzzles of regional diplomacy over the past six months, the basic framework for our foreign policy has been completed and is represented by alliance diplomacy; multilateral diplomacy based on freedom and solidarity; and the Indo-Pacific strategy."

The preceding Moon Jae-in government pursued a New Southern Policy that aimed for greater economic cooperation with Southeast Asia and India, and put less of a focus on a humanitarian and ideological goals.

Kim added that the so-called Korea-Asean solidarity initiative "will be a historical milestone for promoting Asean-specific cooperation based on the vision and principles of our Indo-Pacific strategy" and shows that Yoon "considers Asean an important region."

On Sunday evening, he will depart for Indonesia to attend a Group of 20, or G20, summit in Bali.

On Monday, Yoon will meet with Korean businesspeople in Indonesia, attend a Korea-Indonesia business roundtable and take part in a so-called B20 summit involving business organizations and executives from the G20 nations.

On Tuesday, Yoon will attend the G20 summit, where he is expected to give a speech at a session on food, energy, security and health.

He is also expected to attend a leaders' luncheon hosted by Indonesia and a welcome dinner.

Yoon is scheduled to leave Bali late Tuesday and arrive in Seoul early Wednesday.

There is interest in seeing what interactions Yoon has with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida, whom he met in New York in September, and Chinese President Xi. They will also attend the G20, giving multiple chances for bilateral talks, though the presidential office played down the possibility of bilateral summits with either the Japanese or Chinese leader.

There is also the possibility of bilateral talks with U.S. President Biden, or trilateral talks with the United States and Japan, said a senior presidential official, which are both "under discussion."

Seoul is currently the chair of the trilateral grouping among Korea, China, Japan. The last summit for that group was in China in December 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

This will be Yoon's first visit to Southeast Asia and his third overseas trip since being inaugurated as president in early May. He previously attended a NATO summit in Madrid in late June and made a three-country tour in September to Britain, the UN General Assembly in the United States and Canada.

After his return to Seoul, Yoon will hold a bilateral summit with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Nov. 17 and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Nov. 18.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]