Korea has been a dialogue partner of ASEAN since July 1991, and through the ASEAN plus Three multilateral framework of East Asian co-operation, it now meets regularly with ASEAN at summit levels. ASEAN members regard it as a valuable contributing partner. In November 1989 Korea and ASEAN established a Sectoral Dialogue relationship. In July 1991 the relationship was moved up to Full Dialogue Partnership. In these dialogues mutual support for moving towards strengthened Korea–ASEAN co-operation was reaffirmed.

However, the level of public awareness of Korea in ASEAN remains low. Asian attention on the Korean Peninsula has been fairly parochial, with much focus on the vicissitudes in its security environment — weapons of mass destruction (WMD), nuclear proliferation, and problems in the north. In the light of this the image of Korea is inevitably skewed or distorted. Despite the popularity of Korean movies and actors and actresses — a new cultural phenomenon sweeping Asia, aptly called “The Korean Wave” (in Korean, Hallyu) — among citizens in ASEAN countries in recent years, our understanding of Korea needs to be further enhanced.

The security environment in East Asia features prominently in our discussions of geopolitics. Within the East Asian equation, the Korea factor was overshadowed by Japan at one time, and now ever increasingly, by a rising China. The ASEAN public image of Korea was equally skewed in the post- 11 September era as well as the years following the onslaught of the Asian financial/economic crisis. The after-effects of these incidents of economic and political turbulence have not dissipated, and ASEAN has far from recovered its pre-Asian financial crisis economic turnovers.

These images belie the realities of growing interdependence between ASEAN and Korea, for the latter is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), an ASEAN dialogue partner, and a player in the ASEAN plus Three. Furthermore, the ASEAN states and Korea are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC).