Korea is broadening its engagement with Southeast Asia by providing support for emerging countries to consolidate democracy and build institutions indispensable for sustaining their growth, Chung Hae-moon, chief of the ASEAN-Korea Center, said.

Ties between Seoul and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations have been evolving for the past 25 years from an economy-centered partnership to comprehensive cooperation in security, politics, culture and global diplomacy.

Korea is keen to share with the regional members its experience of forging democratic systems and establishing the rule of law and eradicating corruption, the secretary-general of the Seoul-based center said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald.

“As democracy spreads in the region, countries there are looking to Korea for good governance and institutional cooperation,” he said.

While trade and investment remain the prime engine for the relationship, Korea is refining its role in assisting the regional bloc in terms of democratic dynamism, institutional strength and anti-corruption mechanisms, he added.

The regional club consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Despite brisk economic development and political reforms, many Southeast Asian economies suffer from a fragile institutional framework, underdeveloped civil societies and lack of transparency in the public sector. The weaknesses threaten to undermine the political capital necessary for future growth.

Anticorruption is a field where the most vibrant cooperation between the two sides is underway.

“Corruption prevention ultimately contributes to the establishment of democracy. They’re trying to learn from Korea’s best practices,” said Chung.

The state-run Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission of Korea has been sharing its experiences in combating illicit activities, jointly devising a corruption index, and developing training programs with its Indonesian and Thai counterparts under 2006 and 2009 agreements, respectively.

Korea has also been actively participating in the annual Bali Democracy Forum initiated by Jakarta in 2008 to promote policy and knowledge exchanges between Asia-Pacific countries. Then-President Lee Myung-bak co-hosted the gathering in 2010 and delivered a speech in 2012.

“The forum is not about interfering with other nations’ non-democratic systems but introducing and sharing each participant’s best practices in establishing and stabilizing their own democracy,” the former ambassador to Thailand said.

“ASEAN embraces harmony in diversity in terms of political system, economic level, religion, language and so forth.”

Chung, 61, served for 35 years at the Foreign Ministry in posts such as ambassador to Greece, embassy minister in Vienna, director of Southeast Asian affairs at the Foreign Ministry, and councilor at the embassy in Bangkok.

He took the helm a year ago at the ASEAN-Korea Center, which was set up in 2009 to promote trade, investment, tourism and cultural interchanges.

The two sides forged a “sectoral” dialogue partnership in 1989 and continued to advance the bilateral ties, forging a strategic partnership in 2010.

ASEAN is Seoul’s second-biggest trade partner after China, with two-way shipment volume surpassing $130 billion last year. Korean builders secured $11 billion worth of contracts in the region in 2012 alone.

Along with China and Japan, Korea is one of the group’s major partners and participants in ASEAN-led multinational gatherings including the ASEAN Plus Three, East Asia Summit, Asia-Europe Meeting and ASEAN Regional Forum. It opened a mission to ASEAN in Jakarta last October.

North Korea, which has diplomatic relations with all the 10 member nations, also participates in the ASEAN Regional Forum.

A number of impromptu meetings have taken place since 2000 between ranking officials from the two Koreas on the sidelines of the annual security conference.

“The ARF is the region’s sole intergovernmental security initiative which North Korea usually attends every year. ASEAN has a lot of interest in the Korean Peninsula and they can at least set the stage for inter-Korean dialogue,” Chung said.

With the 10-nation league aiming for political, economic and sociocultural integration by 2015, the center is now stepping up support for their unity by bridging officials, businesspeople and industry experts from the two regions.

The Korean government plans to host a forum in September here to discuss how better to enhance the links between member states with public-private partnership specialists at home and abroad. An envisioned ASEAN-Korea business network will also benefit entrepreneurs from both sides, Chung said.

“What we can offer to Southeast Asia is our soft power,” he said, citing Seoul’s democratic transition, rapid economic ascent and rising cultural clout, as well as the people’s diligence and creativity underpinned by technological prowess.

“In addition to the Korean Wave, I think there is a growing interest among both the elite and general citizens there in the power of Korea that made such rapid development possible.”

The central hurdle for the ASEAN Community initiative is territorial tension, which led its last summit in July to fall apart with no communique for the first time.

China was accused of using its clout to force then-chair Cambodia to keep off the agenda its island disputes over with the Philippines and Vietnam, whereas other members sought to formulate joint counteraction.

Despite the ongoing standoff, the secretary-general is optimistic of the prospect of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a free trade agreement pushed by 10 ASEAN nations and Korea, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The deal will mark the world’s largest free-trade zone with more than 3 billion people and a combined gross domestic product of some $17 trillion, accounting for about 40 percent of global commerce.

At the EAS last November, leaders of the 16 countries formally agreed to launch negotiations this year and conclude by the end of 2015.

“The problem is how free the free trade pact will be,” Chung said, citing vast development gaps between the participants that will likely bar them from engaging in aggressive trade liberalization.

The RCEP’s guiding principles indicate flexibility for differential treatment for such countries as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

“But for Korea, wouldn’t it be a good thing given that it has been promoting FTAs and seeking access to more markets?” he added.

The center is also devoted to promoting Koreans’ understanding of the fast-rising Asian partners through a variety of programs.

“Compared with the importance of ASEAN, Korean people’s interest and understanding is considerably low,” Chung said.

“We can’t raise public awareness overnight. We are focusing all our activities related to trade, investment, tourism, and academic and people-to-people exchanges on gradually improving the perceptions among not just the current generations, but also the next.”

By Shin Hyon-hee  (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)