SEOUL, July 23 (AJP) - South Korea placed artificial intelligence at the center of its offer to Southeast Asia on Wednesday, unveiling a new initiative to help the region build AI ecosystems, train researchers and spread the technology safely, drawing on what Seoul calls its full-stack capability spanning chips, models and services.
The pitch came as Foreign Minister Cho Hyun co-chaired the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference with the Republic of Korea in Manila, the 29th session of the annual talks that have brought Seoul together with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) every year since 1997. Thailand, the current coordinator of the relationship, shared the chair, with all 11 ASEAN members and the bloc's secretariat attending.
The AI program, named the Korea-ASEAN AI Companion Initiative, aims to apply the technology to social problems across the region while building a sustainable AI ecosystem, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Demand for AI cooperation runs high among ASEAN members, the ministry said, and detailed projects will follow.
South Korea is one of the few countries that produces the full chain of AI inputs, from the memory chips that train models to homegrown models and the services built on them, which is the capability Seoul is now marketing to a region of 680 million people caught between American and Chinese technology offerings.
The initiative leads a wider package. Cho introduced a new program to sharpen the competitiveness of Korean and ASEAN cultural and creative industries in the digital era, and two security projects breaking new ground for the relationship. The first, a cooperation project against scam-related crime, is the first police and coast guard undertaking between the two sides. It will run working group meetings, discuss operations to rescue victims, visit national anti-scam centers, work toward a shared database of scam crimes and conduct training. Scam compounds across Southeast Asia have drawn global attention for detaining trafficked workers, including South Koreans, and defrauding victims worldwide. The second project, a maritime safety academy, will train regional officers in maritime law enforcement, search and rescue, and pollution response.
All of it falls under the Korea-ASEAN CSP Vision, the roadmap Seoul drew up after the two sides upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, ASEAN's highest tier of relationship, in 2024. The vision entered full implementation this year. Its three pillars carry the initials: contributor for dreams and hope, springboard for growth and innovation, and partner for peace and stability.
The numbers attached are ambitious. Seoul wants two-way people exchanges to reach 15 million and annual trade to reach $300 billion, up from about $200 billion in recent years, helped by an upgrade of the Korea-ASEAN free trade agreement now under negotiation. Cho told the meeting the vision would move in step with ASEAN Community Vision 2045, the bloc's own 20-year strategy adopted in May last year, and said South Korea and ASEAN had become indispensable partners as global supply chains reorganize and technology shifts accelerate.
ASEAN members welcomed the vision and noted expanding cooperation in the economy, trade, AI, digital affairs, cybersecurity and cultural industries under the five-year action plan adopted last year, the ministry said. They also expressed hope for close cooperation with South Korea as the vision is put into practice.
Cho separately explained Seoul's efforts toward a Korean Peninsula where the two Koreas coexist peacefully and grow together, and asked for ASEAN's continued attention. The members reaffirmed support for the government's peninsula policy, the ministry said, and agreed that peace and stability on the peninsula matter for the region as a whole.
Cho also asked ASEAN members to support holding a special summit in South Korea in 2029, marking 40 years since the two sides established dialogue relations.
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