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LEE JI-EON
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea
South Korea's ‘New Northern Policy’
and 2019 Summit Diplomacy to Central Asia
1
Abstract. This article is to introduce the ‘New North Policy’ of the Moon Jae-in’s
government (since May 2017) of the Republic of Korea, and explain the contents and
performance of the 2019 Korea-Central Asian State Summit (Korean President and
Prime Minister’s official visit to Central Asia) and cooperation in Central Asia under the
‘New North Policy’. By analyzing the significance of 2019 Summit Diplomacy with the
relation of New Northern Policy, the conclusion is to propose a couple of plans for future
cooperation of Korea and Central Asian states.
Keywords and expressions: South Korea, New Northern Policy, Central Asia,
Uzbekistan, Summit, Northern Economic Committee (
북방경제위원회
in Korean).
Аннотация. Ушбу мақола Корея Республикасидаги Мун Чже Ин (2017 йил май
ойидан) ҳукуматининг "Янги Шимолий сиёсати" билан таништиради, шунингдек,
2019 йилги Корея ва Марказий Осиё Саммитининг (Корея Президенти ва Бош вази-
рининг расмий ташрифи) мазмуни ҳамда натижалари, “Шимолнинг янги сиёсати"
доирасида Марказий Осиёдаги ҳамкорликни баён қилади. 2019 йилги Саммит дип-
ломатиясининг Янги Шимолий сиёсат билан боғлиқлигини таҳлил қилиб, Корея ва
Марказий Осиё давлатларининг келажакдаги ҳамкорлиги учун бир нечта режалар
мавжуд деган хулосага келиш мумкин.
Таянч сўз ва иборалар: Жанубий Корея, “Янги Шимолий Сиёсат”, Ўрта Осиё,
Ўзбекистон, Саммит, Шимолий иқтисодий қўмита (Корейс тилида
북방
경제
위원회
).
Аннотация. В этой статье представлена «Новая политика в отношении
Севера» правительства Мун Чжэ Ина (с мая 2017 г.) Республики Корея, а также
разъясняются содержание и результаты Саммита государств Центральной Азии
и Кореи 2019 г. (официальный визит Президента Кореи и премьер-министра в
Центральную Азию), сотрудничество в Центральной Азии в рамках «Новой поли-
тики Севера». Анализируя важность дипломатии Саммита 2019 года в связи с
Новой Северной политикой, можно сделать вывод о нескольких планах будущего
сотрудничества Кореи и государств Центральной Азии.
Опорные слова и выражения: Южная Корея, «Новая северная политика»,
Центральная Азия, Узбекистан, Саммит, Северный экономический комитет (
북방
경제
위원회
на корейском).
I.
Introduction
The core of the “New Northern Policy” of the Moon Jae-in government (May 2017-
present) is the establishment of a northern economic community of peace and prosperity.
Recently, Korea's economy has reached the maturity of major industries such as
automobiles, shipbuilding, and textiles, and it is urgent to find new growth engines due to
the slowing down the growth of Chinese economy, the Korea’s largest trading partner.
1
This work was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund (of 2019)”.
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Against this background, the north-eastern region of Russia - Far East, Mongolia, and
Central Asia have many demands for energy, and there are many future elements of
cooperation in the complementary economic structure with Korea, which has developed
industries. In addition, these northern countries have a friendly stance toward Korea, a mid-
sized country, and it is also a region of historical and cultural ties from ancient times. The
2020 New Year's Speech of the President Moon Jae-in also said, "We will move toward
Northeast Asian economy, security, and community through the ‘New Northern Policy’."
1
Today, in South Korea's foreign economic policy, this New Northern Policy can be
seen as the most important economic basis. Central Asia, which is located at the center
of the New Northern Region, is classified as Central Region (Central Asia, Mongolia)
in the New Northern Policy. In particular, in Central Asia, previous Korean govern-
ments recognized it as a major partner in economic, political, and private exchanges,
and as evidenced by this, Korea-Central Asia summit diplomacy has been frequently
promoted. In addition, the'Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum', which is a
multilateral consultation involving all five Central Asian countries, was established
(2007). In 2010, the Secretariat was opened in Korea and efforts have been made to
ensure stable cooperation between Korea and five Central Asian countries.
This article is to introduce the ‘New North Policy’ of the Moon Jae-in government
of the Republic of Korea, and explain the contents and performance of the 2019 Korea-
Central Asian State Summit (Korean President and Prime Minister’s official visit to
Central Asia) and cooperation in Central Asia under the ‘New North Policy’. Further-
more, by analyzing the significance of 2019 Summit Diplomacy, the conclusion is to
propose a couple of plans for future cooperation of Korea and Central Asian states.
II.
The Moon Jae-in Government's New Northern Policy and Central Asia
1.
New Nothern Policy(
신북방정책
)
The basic spirit of South Korea's New Northern Policy is rooted in “forming a
Northeast Asia Plus Community of Responsibility,” announced during the Kim Dae-
jung administration(1998-2003). In the Moon Jae-in government, building the peace
cooperation platform in Northeast Asia as the “axis of peace” that expands the
foundation of peace, and making the northern region beyond Northeast Asia the “axis
of prosperity” is the core spirit of the New Northern Policy.
2
The four main goals in this
policy are summarized as ‘establishing a peace base in Northeast Asia’, ‘sharing
strategic interests by creating an integrated network’, ‘creating new growth engines’,
and ‘promoting human/cultural exchange’.
3
1
2020 is the Year of New Northern Cooperation! What is the New Northern Policy?, Foreign
Ministry of Republic of Korea.
2
At the same time, the Moon Jae-in government is also pursuing a new southern policy. In other
words, centering on South Korea, the north is a new northern policy, and the south is a new
southern policy, which is intended to establish a common axis of prosperity. However, this article
reiterates that it covers only the North Korean policy that Central Asia belongs to.
3
Korea’s Policy Briefing, New Northern Policy,
http://www.korea.kr/special/policy
CurationView.do?newsId=148865644 (accessed 2020-07-24).
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[Fig. 1] Countries subject to the New Northern Policy
1
After inauguration in May 2017, President Moon Jae-in announced the New
Northern Policy, which focused on expanding economic cooperation with northern
countries, particularly on active participation in the Far East, at the ‘3rd Eastern
Economic Forum’ in September of the same year.
2
As a promotion strategy for
realizing the vision, a) promoted a new cooperation model with Russia through 9
bridges (9-Bridge strategy, refer to the fig. 2 below) b) established a dedicated
organization for northern economic cooperation, c) established an institutional
infrastructure for northern cooperation.
3
[Fig.2] 9-BRIDGE MAP
4
1
Northern Economy Cooperation Committee (
북방경제협력위원회
), 9-Bridge, http://bukbang.
go.kr/bukbang_en/vision_policy/9-bridge/ (accessed on 2020-07-14).
2
Moon’s Keynote Speech at the 3
rd
Eastern Economic Forum(
제
3
회
동방경제포럼
기조연설
), Blue House
of Republic of Korea(
청와대
), https://www1.president.go.kr/articles/944 (accessed 2020-08-01).
3
Korea’s Policy Briefing, New Northern Policy,
http://www.korea.kr/special/policy
CurationView.do?newsId=148865644 (accessed 2020-07-24).
4
“9-BRIDGE” of the “New Northern Policy” under the Moon Jae-in Government of the Republic
of Korea, Northern Economy Cooperation Committee(
북방경제협력위원회
), http://bukbang.
go.kr/bukbang_en/vision_policy/9-bridge/ (accessed on 2020-07-14).
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In other words, the New Northern Policy is a continental strategy that strengthens
cooperation with Eurasian countries based on peace. Trilateral cooperation between
South, North Korea and Russia (Najin-Hasan logistics business, railroads, electric power
grids, etc.) laid the foundation for implementation, FTA promotion between the Korea-
EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) and participation in the 'One Belt and One Road'
initiative of China. It can be characterized as a policy to institutionalize multilateral
cooperation and further connect the Korean Peninsula to the Eurasian region.
1
Korea's New Northern Policy, which will serve as a midwife for the construction of
the Eurasian Northern Cooperation Belt, is based on mutually complementary,
comprehensive, and horizontal relations among the participating countries, and
promotes common interests as an important value.
The New Northern Policy aimed at promoting economic and political relations with
North Korea, Russia, and Central Asia through Europe, has led the construction of the
Eurasian Northern Cooperation Belt, which can be a check and balance while
cooperating with China. This is the main strategy of the Korean government. With the
recent anti-Russian sanctions, Korea-Russia economic cooperation is not achieving the
expected results, while Central Asia is a key partner in the New Northern Policy of
South Korea.
The core cooperation areas of this policy are largely divided into 3 regions (Eastern
area-Far Eastern Russia/China, Central region-Central Asia/Mongolia, Western area-
Western Russia, Ukraine) It is directly connected to strengthening the business. In
particular, Central Asia has been continuously engaged in exchange and cooperation with
the Korean government, focusing on the resource development and infrastructure sectors,
and has a lot of interest in expanding cooperation into the manufacturing, agricultural and
information and communication sectors where Korea has strength. Therefore, Central
Asia is a region where there is a great need to pursue mutual growth through sharing of
the Korean development model in the future, while strengthening private support and
government cooperation by using intergovernmental consultative bodies.
2.
Central Asia – its Importance and Values for the South Korea
Central Asia is a region recognized for its strategic values such as rich energy and
mineral resources, geopolitical points, young countries, the Korean Wave spread, and
300,000 Korean (Goryoin) networks. In addition, the Central Asian region is an
attractive cooperation target for Korea, which faces demands such as diversification of
energy and mineral supply routes, discovery of new export markets and investment
areas, and expansion of diplomatic and economic cooperation targets.
In 2019, President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon sequentially
visited to five countries in Central Asia. For South Korea, Central Asia has been
regarded as a new market in the center of Eurasia, an area of importance for the practical
1
Lee Ji-eon, “
신북방정책에서의
정상외교
(Summit Diplomacy in the concept of the New
Northern Policy)”, Presented at the Seminar of the New Northern Policy hold by the Northern
Economic Committee (2020-05-15).
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success of the North Korean policy. Thus 2019 Summit Diplomacy can be evaluated as that
the Korean government does consider of Central Asian states as important partners. In
particular, the President's visits to the three Central Asian countries (Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan with according to the visiting date) and the Prime Minister's visits
to the two other Central Asian countries (Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic) strengthened
traditional friendly cooperation relations, expanded Centra Asian States’ consensus on the
New Northern Policy, and Korean residents living in Korea. Furthermore, it has the meaning
of strengthening historical and cultural ties. The government's intention to promote the ‘New
Northern Policy’ and diversify diplomatic and economic policies reflected the intention of
expanding cooperation with Central Asian countries.
Central Asia has been the main target area for cooperation by the Korean
government since the mid-2000s, and is a region where Summit Diplomacy have been
irregular but frequently promoted. After establishing diplomatic relations with five
Central Asian countries in 1992, Korea has developed mutually beneficial cooperative
relations, although there are some differences among countries. With this Two-
Tops(President and Prime Minister)’ visit, Korea reaffirmed the importance of Central
Asian countries as Korea's main partner.
Furthermore, above mentioned, the New Northern Policy is also paying much
attention to linkages with major long-term development strategies of countries in
Central Asia. It should be noted that the Korean government's development strategy
contains the concerns and interests of the Central Asian state’s individual development
strategy – Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan's Development Strategy for 2017-2021 (2017),
Kazakhstan: 2050 Strategy (2012), and Turkmenistan: Social and Economic
Programme of Turkmenistan for 2018-2024 (2017).
1
This means that the Korean
government deeply understands that the long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation
with the Central Asian individual state could be maintained only when it is directly or
indirectly linked and promoted in their economic development plans.
III.
Summit Diplomacy of Korea-Central Asia: Outcomes and Implications
1.
Summit Diplomacy by Country
From the perspective of Central Asian countries, which are pursuing the diversi-
fication of the economic cooperation route, Korea has always been a major partner,
especially as Russia's and China's hegemony toward Central Asia becomes stronger.
More and more, Korea needs to establish its position and status as a “good” partner to
help Central Asian countries achieve economic autonomy and independent development.
Under this keynote, when officially visiting Uzbekistan in 2019, President Moon
Jae-in stated in a parliamentary speech that he would open the era of the “Iron Silk
Road” with Central Asian countries - linking Russia, Central Asia and Europe starting
from the Korean Peninsula. Most of all, the biggest achievement of the Korea-
Uzbekistan summit was the “Special Strategic Partnership,” which promoted bilateral
1
Northern Economy Cooperation Committee(
북방경제협력위원회
), Strategy of New Northern
Policy, http://bukbang.go.kr/bukbang_en/vision_policy/strategy/ (accessed on 2020-08-01).
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relations more strengthened, and suggested the hope that cooperation between the two
countries could be a pioneer in establishing an Eurasian cooperation belt. In addition,
real cooperation between the two countries in the fields of energy, infrastructure, 5G,
health care, education, defense, and public administration was discussed in depth.
In the case of Turkmenistan, they expressed their intention to expand the infra-
structure and energy cooperation, sign a “culture/humanity agreement”, select scholarship
students to Korea, and open the King Sejong Institute (Korean language center), and
create a second and third Qianli cooperation model in the future. In particular, in
Turkmenistan, it is said that the construction of the gas chemical plant in Qianli was
highly satisfied with the completion without any deadline and accidents, and the
President of Turkmenistan directly suggested additional cooperation plans with Korea.
Meanwhile, in the context of Korea's support for Kazakhstan's '2050 Economic
Development Strategy', the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding for
the 4th Industrial Revolution, and agreed to jointly pursue cooperation in high-tech
areas such as 5G, big data, and artificial intelligence. And the willingness to cooperate
in the logistics sector.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon’s visit to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has contributed
to promoting bilateral cooperation with the two countries. This visit focused on
supporting Korean companies' entry into Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, where infra-
structure was relatively insignificant compared to other Central Asian countries, and
focused on securing new markets and cooperative partners through diversification of
existing areas of cooperation. Furthermore, through the strengthening of public
development assistance, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan sought joint prosperity, and Korea
pledged to establish its status as a sustainable cooperative partner.
First of all, Tajikistan mentioned the possibility of cooperation in the fields of energy,
transportation, water resources and agriculture. Tajik President also promised to provide a
5-year duty-free benefit to Korean companies entering the market. On the other hand,
Korea-Kyrgyzstan discussed the possibility of Kyrgyz production, processing, and export
of eco-friendly agricultural products, and cooperation in areas such as Korea's advanced
health and medical technology, investment attraction, tourism infrastructure development
cooperation, direct route opening, and railroad construction were mentioned. . In addition,
the Economic Cooperation Committee of the two countries was formed to establish an
institutional basis to materialize these cooperation discussions.
2.
Implications of Korean President and Prime Minister's Visit to Central Asia
Central Asia has been the main target area for cooperation by the Korean
government since the mid-2000s. After establishing diplomatic relations with five
Central Asian countries in 1992, Korea has developed mutually beneficial cooperative
relations, although there are slight differences among countries, and recently reaffirmed
its importance as a major partner region.
The President's visit to three Central Asian countries and the Prime Minister's visit
to two Central Asian countries have the significance of strengthening traditional
friendly partnerships, expanding regional consensus on the New Northern Policy, and
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strengthening historical and cultural ties in the Goryeoin in Central Asia. This is
because expanding the cooperation with Central Asian countries is essential for the
current government's promotion of New Northern Policy and the diversification of
Korea's foreign and economic policies.
Furthermore, the 2019 visit by the Korean president and the Prime Minister to
Central Asia is meaningful in order to reaffirm cooperation with major Central Asian
countries in the transition period of leadership. In the past two to three years, with
Uzbekistan as the starting point, some countries in Central Asia are undergoing an
internal transition, such as regime change, while accelerating economic reforms and
opening up their economies. What these countries have in common is that the degree of
openness is gradually increasing and the investment environment is also improving.
Under these circumstances, the Korean government's official Two-Top’s visit to the
Central Asia in 2019 is considered to have been happened very timely when it is
necessary to exchange with the new central government in order to maintain existing
economic cooperation and diversify the fields of cooperation.
IV.Conclusion and Suggestions for Cooperation
As an axis of the Moon Jae-in administration's New Northern Policy, the Central
Asian region has important implications for the concrete realization of and for its
effective outcomes. Therefore, considering the political system of Central Asian
countries, the Presidential Summit between the relevant states is also an effective way
to strengthen cooperation.
At the same time, in order to strengthen multilateral cooperation with the Central
Asian region, the “Korea-Central Asian Cooperation Forum”, which was established as
a venue for all five Central Asian countries to participate, needs to be used more
actively. In fact, many experts of the Central Asia in Korea and abroad have suggested
that this forum has to be upgraded by participation of the prime minister level or even
higher, highlighting the need for regular meetings of high-ranking personnel, regular
evaluations of cooperative projects, and the discovery of new cooperation agendas in a
systematic and stable manner.
The voices of local experts in Central Asia agreeing with this suggestion are also
high. A consensus was also formed among the leaders of Central Asia on the need for
more frequent exchanges between the Presidents at the 2019 Korean President’s visit to
Central Asia. For example, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyz Republic mentioned that the
Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum needs to be used more actively to maintain
good relations with neighboring Central Asian countries and to build bilateral and
multilateral cooperation. In other words, considering the political system of Central
Asian countries, it is necessary to finally settle for an effective system to achieve real
cooperation between South Korea and Central Asia, aiming at regularization of the
Summit through the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum.
On the other hand, in order to promote cooperation in the economic sector, the
activation of private enterprises entry to Central Asia should be given priority. To this
end, it is necessary to provide institutional and financial support devices for countries in
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Korea and Central Asia. Due to the nature of a Central Asian country with a strong
presidential regime, there should be a mechanism to ensure continuity so that the
frequent changes of high-ranking officials is not interrupting the on-going cooperation.
Only then will future-oriented, mutually beneficial cooperation with a long term be
possible, rather than a single occurrence of a single cooperative idea.
In the meantime, when reviewing cooperation projects between Korea and Central
Asia, of course, there have been many achievements, but many cooperation have been
just remained at the level of the MOU between the governments. It has been also
discovered that only a couple of the well-known large scaled corporations achieve
national projects of each Central Asian states not ever do mid-sized firms. In other
words, it is true that small- and medium-sized enterprises and private companies have
not yet entered the market of Central Asia. Despite the annual exchange of economic
cooperation fields held at the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, the risk and
revitalization issue of private economic cooperation have not been resolved at the
government level. Therefore, it is necessary to have a practical system of Korean and
Central Asian governments and financial support devices that can minimize the risks
that may lead the private sector to enter the Central Asian market.
Furthermore, in order to differentiate Korea and Central Asia from other countries
and regions, it is necessary to strengthen ‘customized’ development cooperation to
highlight Korea's uniqueness. For this, Korea's understanding of Central Asia should be
preceded. It is not just a unilateral cooperation proposal to enhance Korea's interests,
but also the need to strengthen customized development cooperation that contributes to
the mid- to long-term economic policies and national welfare and social systems of
Central Asian countries, which are Korea’s partners. It is necessary to closely examine
key government policies, such as the economic development plans being implemented
by countries in Central Asia today, and discover future-oriented cooperation projects
that are suitable for them.
Here, Korea's assets and know-hows, such as the transfer of the Korean-style
administrative system (establishing and operating an e-government system), establishment
of a health/medical infrastructure, ICT field, education (higher education), and K-
Quarantine of Corona19 which hit the global in the beginning of 2020. If the Korean
quarantine and operating system against the Corona 19 are actively proposed and
cooperated in Central Asia. Among them, Uzbekistan was considered to be the first country
in the region to actively introduce Korea's Corona Quarantine system and effectively to
slow down the spread of it most successfully in Central Asia. Mirziyoyev government had
actively introduced an quarantine system by inviting an infectious disease specialist from
Korea to Uzbekistan in the early days of the spread of Corona 19.
On the other hand, it may be a rather cautious proposal, but it may also seek some ways
to link China’s One Belt and One Road project at the economic area. As is well known,
China's One Belt and One Road is a network construction project that integrates railroads,
roads, and power grids across China, Central Asia, and Europe. So far, the emphasis has
been placed on building the aforementioned hardware infrastructure. In addition, almost all
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countries in Central Asia participate in China's this project with varying levels. Some
countries have a favorable view of China's project but at the same time, concerns and fears
of the China's economic imperialism are also not ignorable.
Korea, too, will not be able to have some distance from this giant China's projects
when she promotes cooperation with Central Asia where China has great interests. In
this case, Korea and Central Asia states should consider how to take advantage of
China's project from our point of view. Of course, this would not be an easy decision
for the Korean government, which has to take a tightrope between the United States
and China. However, in order to support the hardware distribution infrastructure in each
of Central Asia, where China's One Belt One Road pass through, and to expect
downward economic effects, Korea is looking for ways to provide support in terms of
software, such as customs clearance and administrative practices. It could bring a
positive economic effect to all of Central Asia as well.
Lastly, Korea should establish itself as a reliable “good” partner for Central Asian
countries. Central Asian countries have experienced the expansionist policies of Russia,
China. Korea should have a different strategy and cooperation attitude toward entering
Central Asia. In other words, it is time for the Korean government to continue to make
efforts to recognize the central Asian countries' cooperation between Korea and Central
Asia to be more horizontal, complementary, mutually beneficial, and future-oriented.
САЙФУЛЛАЕВ ДУРБЕК
тарих фанлари доктори, доцент, ТДШУ
МИРСОАТОВА ШАҲНОЗА
тадқиқотчи, ТДШУ
Замонавий даврда маданий ва оммавий дипломатия
Аннотация. Мақолада глобаллашув тизимидаги маданият, оммавий ва мада-
ний дипломатия сингари тушунчалар, шунингдек рақамли замонада уларни амалга
оширишнинг айрим жиҳатлари, шу жумладан рақамли технологиялар ёрдамида
амалга ошириладиган ҳамда оммавий дипломатиянинг унсурларидан бири бўлган
маданий дипломатиянинг халқаро муносабатларга таъсири ҳақида сўз юритилади.
Элиталар ва келгусида қандай чора-тадбирлар амалга оширилганлиги ўртасидаги
боғликлик алоҳида тилга олинади. Глокализация ҳодисаси, яъни глобаллашув
шароитларида маданий ўзига хосликлар ва миллий қадриятлар модификацияга
тортилиши ҳақида ҳам сўз боради.
Таянч сўз ва иборалар: Оммавий дипломатия, “Оммавий дипломатия 2.0”,
маданият, глобаллашув, глокализация, маданий дипломатия, рақамли технология-
лар, Хитой, АҚШ, Конфуций институти, “юмшоқ куч”.
Аннотация. В статье рассматриваются такие понятия как культура в системе
глобализации, публичная и культурная дипломатия, а также некоторые аспекты их
осуществления в цифровую эпоху, в том числе влияние культурной дипломатии, реали-
