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The nations have agreed to enhancing engagement in south-east Asia to “promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region”.
The US and the Republic of Korea have committed to expanding co-operation in south-east Asia and the Indo-Pacific, following the first US-ROK Dialogue on ASEAN and south-east Asia last week.
Co-chairs of the virtual meeting, State Department Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, principal deputy assistant secretary ambassador Atul Keshap, and Director-General for ASEAN and Southeast Asian Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Jae-kyung Park, discussed the need to “promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region”.
The pair noted that broader co-operation would include “mobilising recovery” from the COVID-19 crisis, upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, and peaceful dispute resolution.
Also discussed during the meeting was the need for regional adherence to international laws, particularly under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea, as well as the importance of advancing digital innovation and smart cities, addressing cyber threats, overcoming cross-border challenges across the Mekong River Basin, and expanding co-operation in the maritime domain.
The US backed ASEAN centrality, particularly in its response to the Myanmar coup.
Both parties called on the military occupation in Myanmar to “immediately end and refrain from violence” and release all unjustly detained political prisoners.
The meeting formed part of a US-ROK dialogue series on the US vision for the Indo-Pacific and the Republic of Korea’s New Southern Policy.
[Related: Building a prosperous central Asia, could the ‘Kabul Corridor’ work?]
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