The session will be followed by the 1st Mekong-Korea Summit on Wednesday, joined by five of the 10 ASEAN countries in the Mekong River region.  

The summit is the largest diplomatic event to take place in South Korea under the Moon Jae-in administration. It is part of President Moon's signature "New Southern Policy", which aims to deepen economic and other ties with the ASEAN nations and India.

"The Korea-ASEAN partnership, which began in 1989, has now developed into a close strategic partnership boasting a combined trade volume about 20 times what we had 30 years ago, and about 40 times larger in terms of people-to-people exchanges," she said.

"This meeting will be an important venue to check the performance of such cooperation and to lay the foundations for new cooperation."

Kang said the summit will, in particular, serve as a chance for in-depth discussions to promote cooperation in such fields as infrastructure, smart cities and the liberalization of aviation industries, as well as expanding people-to-people exchanges.

The summit will also include, for the first time, a separate session on the Korean Peninsula as part of Seoul's efforts to enhance ASEAN nations' understanding of and support for the Korean peace process, Kang added.

"The stability of peace on the Korean Peninsula is inseparable from peace in ASEAN and peace in Asia. We hope that the discussion will contribute to expanding cooperation to that end," she said.

President Moon will hold a series of one-on-one summits with the leaders of the ASEAN member nations on the sidelines of the special summit. He met with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah in Seoul earlier in the day and held talks with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong on Saturday. (Yonhap)